General Shalikashvili, who is allegedly endorsing Kerry, was the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff under Klintoon.
It's General Eric K. Shinseki who was Army Chief of Staff under Klinton & Bush that Kerry lies about Rummy (Bush) firing and/or retiring early. It's also Shinseki who said we'd need several hundred thousand troops in post war Iraq.
An aside, for what it's worth Rummy was 100% correct in ignoring Shinseki. He was a Willard suck-up, was promoted solely due to affirmative action, and has the fastest promotion time-line from Major General (2 stars) to General (4 stars) in the history of the modern US Army - all under Klintoon. And if anything, Rummy (Bush) SHOULD have fired him on Jan 22nd, 2001!
And thanks to Shinseki, we have the REMF's now wearing the Ranger's Black Beret to make them 'feel good', the boondoggle (IMO) called the Stryker, co-ed basic training and lower standards, and frigging touchy-feely sensitivity training!
~~Shinseki rant off~~
here is what I was referencing:
CNN did a fact check afterwards:
"CNN Fact Check: Kerry implies that Shinseki was forced to retire as a result of his comments about troop levels in Iraq, which is inaccurate. Shinseki served a full four-year term as Army chief of staff, and did not retire early. Since World War II, no Army chief of staff has served longer than four years.
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld decided in April 2002 on who he would tap to succeed Shinseki, according to a Pentagon official, long before Shinseki's troop level comments in 2003. So by the time Shinseki made his comments on troop levels, it was already known that he would not remain in his post beyond his full four-year term. The Bush administration may not have been fond of Shinseki, who was appointed to his post by President Clinton, but it is inaccurate to say that he was forced to retire because of his comments on troop levels in Iraq."
http://www.cnn.com/2004/ALLPOLITICS/10/08/factcheck/
At which point Wolf Blitzer said that this point has been pointed out to Kerry several times and someone in his camp should tell him to stop presenting it the other way.