Rumsfeld Admires War Criminal

Lewis Regenstein

[philosofy123]

To the Editor/ The New York Times:

Your "Political Points" article in the 23 May Sunday New York Times, reports that Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld is reading Grant, the biography of the Civil War general, Ulysses S. Grant, as a morale booster.

But if Rumsfeld is going to adopt Grant as a role model or source of inspiration, he (and you) should be aware that Grant’s policies and actions included the following: •

Ordering the expulsion on 24 hours notice of all Jews "as a class" from the territory under his control (General Order # 11, 17 December, 1862), and forbidding Jews to travel on trains (November, 1862); •

Ordering the destruction of an entire agricultural area to deny the enemy support (the Shenandoah Valley, 5 August, 1864). •

Leading the mass murder, a virtual genocide, of Native People, mainly helpless old men, women, and children in their villages, to make land available for the western railroads (the eradication of the Plains Indians, 1865–66).

Overseeing the complete destruction of defenseless Southern cities, and conducting such warfare against unarmed women and children (e.g., the razing of Meridien, and other cities in Mississippi, spring, 1863).

Contrast these well documented atrocities (and many others too numerous to list) with the gentlemanly policies and behavior of the Confederate forces. My ancestor Major Raphael Moses, General James Longstreet’s chief commissary officer, was forbidden by General Robert E. Lee from even entering private homes in their raids into the North, such as the famous incursion into Pennsylvania. Moses was forced to obtain his supplies from businesses and farms, and he always paid for what he requisitioned, albeit in Confederate tender.

Moses always endured in good humor the harsh verbal abuse he received from the local women, who, he noted, always insisted on receiving in the end the exact amount owed.

Moses and his Confederate colleagues never engaged in the type of warfare waged by the Union forces, who routinely burned, looted, and destroyed libraries, courthouses, churches, homes, and cities full of defenseless civilians, including my hometown of Atlanta. My ancestors may have lost the war, but they never lost their honor.

Perhaps Rumsfeld should be reading the memoirs of General Lee or Major Moses, instead of the bio of a war criminal like General Grant.

Sincerely yours,

Lewis Regenstein

Atlanta, Georgia

[Mark17]

Rumsfeld Admires War Criminal

Oh, I see it's Grant. I could really be totally non PC and say who I really thought it was.

[houeto]

Can you imagine if this nation had PEACEFULLY divided?

[kidd]

Rumsfeld Admires War Criminal

Whew! For a second I thought that Rummy was going to say something nice about Kerry.

[philosofy123]

Forget PC. Tell us how you feel!

[arthurus]

Much as I am a partisan of Lee and the South and much as I believe the assault on the Southern states was totally wrong, I have to say that Rumsfield needs to read and learn from the memoirs of winners.

[JasonC]

Whatever Rummy is reading, like whatever Grant was drinking, should be sent to all general officers. "I need him; he fights." - Lincoln on Grant.

[philosofy123]

You are correct. Carl Rove reads from Prince Machiavelli?

[Tallguy]

Contrast these well documented atrocities (and many others too numerous to list) with the gentlemanly policies and behavior of the Confederate forces.

Guess you never heard of Ft. Pillow, The Battle of the Crater, or Andersonville. Sh*t flowed both ways in the Civil War.

[Andy from Beaverton]

I bet that idiot Lewis Regenstein will buy the war criminal Bill Clinton's book.

[Tallguy]

Forgot to add the ransoming/burning of Chambersburg, PA right here in my own backyard...

[BadAndy]

The leftists will not tolerate any American heroes. They are even attacking the firemen and cops actions on 9/11. I'm waiting for their smear of Jesus (why did't he cure ALL the cripples and lepers).

[BlueLancer]

"(why did't he cure ALL the cripples and lepers)."

And he even said, "Go and sin no more" ...
...how judgmental can you get!!?

[Mark17]

Forget PC. Tell us how you feel!

LOL, not a chance. You will have to read my mind.

[TBarnett34]

Perhaps, Mr. Regenstein, you should shut the hell up and let him read whatever the hell he wants.

I'm ashamed that you live in my state.

[dirtboy]

Moses was forced to obtain his supplies from businesses and farms, and he always paid for what he requisitioned, albeit in Confederate tender.

In other words, he paid next to nothing for them.

[Cicero]

"War is hell."

--William Tecumseh Sherman

[dirtboy]

Moses and his Confederate colleagues never engaged in the type of warfare waged by the Union forces, who routinely burned, looted, and destroyed libraries, courthouses, churches, homes, and cities full of defenseless civilians, including my hometown of Atlanta

The people of Chambersburg, Pennsylvania might beg to differ about Confederate tactics.

[laconic]

No, I can't. A divided nation would have retained slavery south of the border and as Gen. Longstreet said in the movie Gettysburg, "the war is about slavery". I have no nostalgia for that.

[VoodooEconomics]

Moral relativism alert!

I guess the world and the US would have been better off having the south continue to embrace slavery? The world and the US would have been better off seeing the experiment of the American revolution come apart - unable to unite under the very priciples of it's constitution and bill of rights?

Oh! and because the Shanandoah valley was burned the northern cause is now criminal and with no higher moral? Because the US bombed Dresden - victory in WWII was only accomplished by a more evil empire than the one vanquished???

[HenryLeeII]

Yeah, forget Grant. He should be reading the biography of Sherman instead.

Be careful. Sherman had some policies regarding the Indians that aren't PC today! No one from the 19th-Century can pass our sniff testers today!!!

Henry Lee II
"Leftists are crazed and violent people,
With the blood of millions on their hands.”