Hell Yeah...!!!I personally think Rumsfeld should step aside as Secretary of Defense. He should assume control of the State Department under President Rice.
(half kidding)
Nice article. Doesn't mention one of the support things Batiste said re: Rumsfeld a couple of years ago. (See Rush's show today.)
Bush Calls Rumsfeld's Leadership 'Exactly What is Needed'
There is also the exact transcript at the bottom of link page.
Rumsfeld has done the best he could in a thankless job under trying conditions and restricted by the political correctness which plagues us.
Personally I would rather have Genghis Khan directing our war effort, but he's presently unavailable. The people attacking Rumsfeld would rather have Goldilocks or Snow White.
The seven Jackels in Generals' suits who have been attacking him are reminiscent of the Conway Cabal.
Hell Yeah...!!!
Sadly, the full story of the global war on terror won't be told any time soon. When everything is out, declassified, I have a hunch Bush and Rumsfeld will be vindicated in all that was done.
Ditto what the President said about Secretary Rumsfeld!
He has my support, deepest appreciation, and heartfelt admiration for his service to our country, and for the strong, straightforward, yet courteous, way he responds to those who don't seem to have it in them to disagree with him with the same courtesy.
He can't be contacted by e-mail at DoD, but here is his snail-mail address if you want to send him a note of support:
Donald H. Rumsfeld
Secretary of Defense
1000 Defense Pentagon
Washington, DC 20301-1000
Elite, my posterior.
With all due respect to ALL who are serving or have served in the 82nd;
That AA on their shoulder patches actually stands for Almost Airborne.
Sorry guys, but the 82nd IS a conventional unit that just happens to be able to jump out of airplanes.
And that is part of the current problem: Most of the generals that hate Rumsfeld are 'conventional troop leaders'. And most "conventional troop leaders" who, even in peace time, tend to be very politically oriented, and are most interested in getting more people and more massive, expensive 'toys' under their control. And they tend to want to fight wars the way they were fought the previous century.
But the challenges facing our military today are going to require precisely what SecDef Rumsfeld is trying to do. As an old denizen of the 'elite' military community, I can tell you first hand about how 'conventional troop leaders' absolutely despise the 'snake eaters' and the 'top gun' types.... Heck, a lot of Marine Commanders hate the Marine 'Recondo' types even though they aren't really all that different..... Unlike say the differences between a 'leg' division commander and a SF Group Commander.
And Rummy's (correct IMHO) emphasis on fighting the military actions that will have to be fought in the forseeable future tends to emphasize spec-ops and precision high tech tools rather than the massive overpriced toys and thousands of troops that these guys like to be able to order around; They see their old jobs becoming less relevant, and they resent the heck out of that.
Another thing that these particular generals may be upset about is that many of them, after retirement, go on to get VERY lucrative jobs with 'Defense Contractors' who SOLD 'toys' to units that these guys commanded or hope to use them to sell future 'toys'. Perhaps some of the cancelled contracts for stuff that is useless for the 21st Century hit these guys in the pocketbook.
Rummy is the best SecDef we EVER had; the clearest thinker, who looks at the future and the present, and doesn't try to refight WWII when our current enemy is a bunch of loosely affiliated guerilla-terrorist-religious-suicidal zealots who will not stand and fight.