I fail to see any excuse for this.
But, better late than never.
Well, I think he should go to each funeral. After all, the man's got nothing better to do. Seriously, we could bog him down in the sad facts of death and take him away from the pursuit of victory. Ultimately, we'll lose more lives that way, but at least it won't look bad.
As always, Rummy is a life long bureaucrat with a heart.
Aside from Dubya, Rummy is my favorite person in this administration.
Pride goeth before the fall.
As tom Lantos said at least Admrial bota (sp) killed himself.
Hackworth is a perfumed prince who figure Ike was a great combat leader and it was cool to smoke dope with the troops, and then the going got tough he ran away to australia.
During the Second World War it was the unit commander who wrote the condolence letters. During the Korean, Cold, and Vietnam wars it was the same. Donald Rumsfeld is a kind and gracious man who decided to send these letters himself. He didn't have to do it.
Hackworth, despite his many medals, is not qualified to wipe Donald Rumsfeld's ass. Hackworth should go back to pushing pictures of Prisoner Abuse to the New York Times.
Wonder if she knows about Osama Obama's book deal and whether she will say anything about that.
BTW all you think Rumsfeld is a lousy SECDEF, I give you two words Cohen and Aspin.
Bush needs toi come out FORCEFULLY and say Runy is his man and staying on and that all these partisan won't matter
And he needs to TELL the GOP congress to GET WITH THE DAMN PROGRAM and the hell with McCain
Everyone loves to kick a dog when he's down. If Bush is behind him, I certainly hope there's a good reason and I trust that there is. If not...loyalty is important but our soldiers lives are so much more important.
How long did it take FDR to sign the letters of the 19,000 Americans killed in the Battle of the Bulge in 1944? Had he yet finished signing letters for those killed at Pearl Harbor, Guadacanal, Bataan, Slapton Sands, Omaha Beach, etc., etc.?
And is it just me or is the way the press is reporting this makes it sound like this (auto-signed) letter is the ONLY thing these families of the fallen get?
Isn't it still policy to notify the families in person?
And there's no finessing (sp?) this, he could have signed those letters himself, it doesn't amount to a big expenditure of time.
I think Rumsfeld is being truthful when he says he just wanted to get the letters out to the families ASAP, but that's an explanation worth nothing. A delay of a couple of days here or there is meaningless.
That being said, there's probably many instances of tacky expediency in every war, ever fought, since the beginnning of time.
Yeah, leave it to CNN for heartless headline of the day......
You're piling on Rumsfeld too?
This is the most ridiculous thing to get incensed over I've seen yet.
Not a damn thing. Rumsfeld is the best SECDEF this country has ever had. Period.
Nothing. The Secretaries of Defense, or War, have not traditionally written these letters. It's been the duty of the unit commander to do so, since he was there and had personal knowledge of said event. Rummy was doing more than customary, and now he's being roasted for it. Ironically, had he done less, there would be no call for complaint.
Good lord! There was a time when the best a family could hope for was a telegram from the War (later Defense) Dept. It is entirely possible to be deeply supportive of and sympathetic to the families of our troops (and those who lost loved ones on 9/11, and the shuttle, and the hurricanes, etc., etc., etc.), and yet to also be darned sick and tired of just how whiny our society has become.
“I have directed that in the future I sign each letter,” he said in the statement.
But why would he agree to suddenly sign letters if - as some here have suggested - there was nothing wrong with him NOT doing it?
Doubia's lining up Wolfowitz for the top job. If you thought the entrenched bureaucracy hates Rumsfeld, wait till the Wolf comes in. I personally would like to see Richard Pearl in the top job.