Posted on 04/14/2006 5:09:29 PM PDT by Ernest_at_the_Beach
US President George W Bush has assured Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld of his "full support" in the wake of criticism by retired generals. In a statement, the president rejected calls for Mr Rumsfeld to step down.
Mr Bush praised Mr Rumsfeld for his "energetic and steady leadership" during his years at the Pentagon. Six retired generals have spoken out against Mr Rumsfeld's handling of the war in Iraq and apparent disdain for experienced military commanders. The defence secretary has also personally dismissed suggestions that he should resign. "Out of thousands and thousands of admirals and generals, if every time two or three people disagreed we changed the secretary of defence of the United States it would be like a merry-go-round," he told Arabic TV channel al-Arabiya.
But he did admit to regrets over the abuse of prisoners by US troops at Baghdad's Abu Ghraib jail. He offered his resignation during the 2004 furore over Abu Ghraib, but Mr Bush refused to accept it. Strong backing In his statement, Mr Bush dismissed claims that the defence secretary has not worked well with senior commanders.
"I have seen first-hand how Don relies upon our military commanders in the field and at the Pentagon to make decisions about how best to complete these missions," Mr Bush said. "Secretary Rumsfeld's energetic and steady leadership is exactly what is needed at this critical period," he added. "He has my full support and deepest appreciation." The president stressed that under Mr Rumsfeld's guidance the US military has undergone a period of rapid transformation and faced a series of major overseas conflicts.
"That kind of change is hard, but our nation must have a military that is fully prepared to confront the dangerous threats of the 21st century." The BBC's Jane Little in Washington says it is highly unusual for Mr Bush to issue a statement from his Camp David retreat, where he is on holiday - but pressure is mounting on Mr Rumsfeld and the administration. Divided opinion Mr Bush's unequivocal backing for Mr Rumsfeld came amid growing discontent among recently-retired senior officers. The two most senior generals to voice their unease were Maj Gen John Riggs and Maj Gen Charles H Swannack Jr, both of the Army.
In a radio interview Gen Riggs, a former division commander, said Mr Rumsfeld fostered an atmosphere of "arrogance" among the Pentagon's top civilian leadership. "They only need the military advice when it satisfies their agenda. I think that's a mistake, and that's why I think he should resign," he told National Public Radio (NPR).
Retired Marine Gen Anthony Zinni told CNN Mr Rumsfeld should be held responsible for a series of mistakes, beginning with "throwing away 10 years worth of planning, plans that had taken into account what we would face in an occupation of Iraq". But others have come out in support of the embattled defence secretary. Retired Marine Lt Gen Mike DeLong, who was deputy commander of Central Command as the US military prepared to invade Iraq in March 2003, said Mr Rumsfeld was good at his job.
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Nice that the bbc sticks it's nose into things it can't understand.
This just the next sequence of the Bush Bashing that the left adopted in December 2000. Retired Generals, the Plame Game, Body Armor, tax cuts for the rich, Katrina, Cindy Sheehan...........
Yes. Thats right. Exactly.
They get to wear the suits and ties, and you get to carry out their "agenda", also known as "national policy".
And one can now see why these cry baby idiots are shooting off their dumb, stupid mouths. The Army ones never got promoted so they are mad at the Sec of Defense. They should resign their commissions and give back their retired pay ASAP. They are proved to be anti-American scum. Thank goodness I never had to serve with these idiots during my 25 years.
Donald Rumsfeld is a target of the MSM because he tells them when their questions are stupid.
And most just ho hum at these pathetic english majors undergrads. The only ones who read this trash is us, and the prof who kudos it. My ug papers could run circles around this crap.
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From Powerline:
*********************************AN EXCERPT ***********************************
Dafydd ab Hugh has an excellent post about the retired generals who have lambasted Defense Secretary Rumsfeld recently. Dafydd notes that the generals in question are (1) mostly, in effect, Clinton appointees and (2) "old school" generals who object to Rumsfeld's pet theories of pushing towards smaller units, more unit independence, much greater reliance on Special Forces, and a reorganization of units to be self-sufficient rather than specialized. As to the second point, Dafydd compares the griping generals to "vice presidents at General Motors or IBM who furiously denounce splitting those companies into self-reliant business units instead of the normal corporate divisions they've had for twenty years." He also notes that "the fact that an old general dislikes the new style of warfare is not a refutation of that style. It just [the general] is 'Old School.' But Old School is not necessary the best school." You should definitely read the whole thing.
Thanks for the link!
Today, Rush read from a another's Generals statement rebutting most of what these Generals were saying. I didnt realize that Zinni was another Clarke..
Oh, well, yeah, if he said it on NPR it must be true. NOT!
Rush also talked about the fact that all these generals were in on the review session in 2003, was this a good plan or not, speak up now. Well, they didn't. And the plan went forward. Now, someone's selling a book, and trying to generate interest. Pathetic bunch of losers. I'd rather have sargeants run the army instead of generals. At least sargeants know what's what.
I had found and then lost a killer article about how even Clinton was butting heads against the stuffed shirt generals that hadn't a clue how to fight a non conventional enemy. An enemy without uniforms that didn't fight in a battlefield.
I agree that the Pentagon has been dragged kicking and screaming into 21st century reality by Rumsfeld and they resent him very much for being smarter than they are.
If anyone could point me to the article again, I'd be most grateful.
10 years worth of worthless, do nothing but sit around eating pizza with the Pres on the Oval Office rug?
10 years when Clintooon tore apart the military, dismantled it to near extinction, pilots having to rob other planes for parts to keep a small portion of a squadron flying, caused the moral to be at all time low, with troops opting out at an unprecedented rate - promoting like minded (think Clintooon and Kerrrrry) military up the ladder - (They NEEDED to be weeded! er retired)
Why don't these armchair generals STFU...They wanted to fight at 21st cent war with 19th cent weapons and tactics -
GO AWAY
Report (from another thread):
General Tommy Franks cleaned Hissy's clock on Hairball. Too bad it's not repeated on Friday. Hope one of the blogs captured the exchange.
34 - four star generals/admirals
124 - three star generals/admirals
278 - two star generals/admirals
439 - one star generals/admirals
Throw in the U.S. Coast Guard and you have 900 generals and admirals on active duty today. Roughly 15-20% of these retire each year.
Also interesting to note: The current number of flag grade (generals and admirals) billets, for a military of 1,400,000, is basically the same that we grew to during WWII, with a military of 12,000,000.
This is like how Joe Wilson originally argued that we shouldn't invade Iraq because the WMDs Iraq had would make our losses during an invasion too great, and then afterwards arguing that we shouldn't have invaded because there were no WMDs.
Thanks. It seems we might be a bit heavy in the brass.
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