Posted on 04/15/2006 8:14:44 AM PDT by churchillbuff
In just two weeks, six retired U.S. Marine and Army generals have denounced the Pentagon planning for the war in Iraq and called for the resignation or firing of Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld.
Washington Post columnist David Ignatius, who travels often to Iraq and supports the war, says that the generals mirror the views of 75 percent of the officers in the field, and probably more.
This is not a Cindy Sheehan moment.
This is a vote of no confidence in the leadership of the U.S. armed forces by senior officers once responsible for carrying out the orders of that leadership. It is hard to recall a situation in history where retired U.S. Army and Marine Corps generals, almost all of whom had major commands in a war yet under way, denounced the civilian leadership and called on the president to fire his secretary for war.
As those generals must be aware, their revolt cannot but send a message to friend and enemy alike that the U.S. high command is deeply divided, that U.S. policy is floundering, that the loss of Iraq impends if the civilian leadership at the Pentagon is not changed.
The generals have sent an unmistakable message to Commander in Chief George W. Bush: Get rid of Rumsfeld, or you will lose the war.
Columnist Ignatius makes that precise point:
"Rumsfeld should resign because the administration is losing the war on the home front. As bad as things are in Baghdad, America won't be defeated there militarily. But it may be forced into a hasty and chaotic retreat by mounting domestic opposition to its policy. Much of the American public has simply stopped believing the administration's arguments about Iraq, and Rumsfeld is a symbol of that credibility gap. He is a spent force. ..."
With the exception of Marine Gen. Anthony Zinni, the former head of Central Command who opposed the Bush-Rumsfeld rush to war, the other generals did not publicly protest until secure in retirement. Nevertheless, they bring imposing credentials to their charges against the defense secretary.
Major Gen. Paul Eaton, first of the five rebels to speak out, was in charge of training Iraqi forces until 2004. He blames Rumsfeld for complicating the U.S. mission by alienating our NATO allies.
Marine Lt. Gen. Gregory Newbold, director of operations for the Joint Chiefs up to the eve of war, charges Rumsfeld, Paul Wolfowitz and Douglas Feith with a "casualness and swagger that are the special province of those who have never had to execute these missions – or bury the results."
Maj. Gen. John Batiste, who commanded the Army's 1st Division in Iraq, charges that Rumsfeld does not seek nor does he accept the counsel of field commanders. Maj. Gen. John Riggs echoes Batiste. This directly contradicts what President Bush has told the nation.
Maj. Gen. Charles J. Swannack, former field commander of the 82nd Airborne, believes we can create a stable government in Iraq, but says Rumsfeld has mismanaged the war.
As of Good Friday, the Generals' Revolt has created a crisis for President Bush. If he stands by Rumsfeld, he will have taken his stand against generals whose credibility today is higher than his own.
But if he bows to the Generals' Revolt and dismisses Rumsfeld, the generals will have effected a Pentagon putsch. An alumni association of retired generals will have dethroned civilian leadership and forced the commander in chief to fire the architect of a war upon which not only Bush's place in history depends, but the U.S. position in the Middle East and the world. The commander in chief will have been emasculated by retired generals. The stakes could scarcely be higher.
Whatever one thinks of the Iraq war, dismissal of Rumsfeld in response to a clamor created by ex-generals would mark Bush as a weak if not fatally compromised president. He will have capitulated to a generals' coup. Will he then have to clear Rumsfeld's successor with them?
Bush will begin to look like Czar Nicholas in 1916.
And there is an unstated message of the Generals' Revolt. If Iraq collapses in chaos and sectarian war, and is perceived as another U.S. defeat, they are saying: We are not going to carry the can. The first volley in a "Who Lost Iraq?" war of recriminations has been fired.
In 1951, Gen. MacArthur, the U.S. commander in Korea, defied Harry Truman by responding to a request from GOP House leader Joe Martin to describe his situation. MacArthur said the White House had tied his hands in fighting the war.
Though MacArthur spoke the truth and the no-win war in Korea would kill Truman's presidency, the general was fired. But MacArthur was right to speak the truth about the war his soldiers were being forced to fight, a war against a far more numerous enemy who enjoyed a privileged sanctuary above the Yalu River, thanks to Harry Truman.
In the last analysis, the Generals' Revolt is not just against Rumsfeld, but is aimed at the man who appointed him and has stood by him for three years of a guerrilla war the Pentagon did not predict or expect.
When the final chapter is eventually written on MacArthur, I'm guessing it's not going to be a pretty story.
MacArthur had a great oppinion of himself. Truman had no choice but to confront this egotistical rogue general and enforce his authority over a general who put himself above god and country. MacArthur never missed an opportunity to promote himself at the expense of others.
Yes, it will. Meanwhile, however, we get to deal with the mewling stupdities of people who think the Secretary of Defense should be fired.
Yes. Fired. For taking and holding on to two countries for three years with the loss of less than three thousand men.
Who else has done it? No one. Of course.
But that doesn't matter. The media and their little lackeys have decided that the only thing left to do is to spout brainless propaganda.
Yes. Fired. For taking and holding on to two countries for three years with the loss of less than three thousand men.
Who else has done it? No one. Of course.
But that doesn't matter. The media and their little lackeys have decided that the only thing left to do is to spout brainless propaganda
And pat buchanan has been doing that for years.
Courage. The courage to tell hard truths about the mismanagement of this war
Please show me a war that no one could claim mismanagement and blunders. Mistakes were made, yes, but please reflect on what has happened in such a short time in two countries with no history except war and conflict. What has happened is amazing. Could it have been better, probably. Could it have been perfect with no detractors, never.
Armchair (retired) generals have always been around and so have armchair historians, armchair policy makers and others who can bash away at those in power using hindsight with great expertise.
2) We don't need a larger Army.
3) Reviewing & Micro management of troop deployments to OIF that caused entire units to be delayed.
4) Firing Jay Garner.
5) Installing a CPA in Iraq.
6) Not believing that an insurgency was occurring in Iraq.
7) Not hammering the Navy after the P-3/China crisis.
8) Replacing a SF Chairman of the JCS with an AF general after Afghanistan.
There are many more ....
I just hope the original caption for #112 was not -"What do I do with these?"
He did it while on active duty, not as a retired arm chair General getting a large retirement check.
I subscribe to the WP. Based on the columns I have read through the years, David Ignatius is very anti-Bush, anti-Rep. I find Buchanan's contention that Ignatius is pro-war nonsense.
You are spot on. Spot on. Why are there no Navy, USAF or Coasties in this bunch of whiners?
I was surprised to see a Marine, though.
The media lackeys want us to lose this war. They are seething totalitarian swine, and they will do anything for power.
Buchanan is a Loser and Anti America! Five out of Nine Thousand Retired Generals alive today. Rummy must be doing pretty good to only have five out of nine thousand upset with him. GOD BLRSS Rummy!
Or wait until they were trying to flog a book.
Because the UCMJ prohibits it.
Once you have active duty military officers publicly challenging the civilian leadership, you have crossed the Rubicon as Caesar did.
If there are problems, they need to be considered in a dispassionate manner without a knee-jerk defense of any particular individual. American military history is replete with both know-it-all Generals (McClellan, Hooker) and civilian micro-managers (McNamara, LBJ) that brought disaster to U.S. war efforts.
This is an issue where the debate should focus on military specifics and not on personalities.
One issue I agree with is the the Bush Administration has done an abysmal job in regards to fighting the Home Front Propaganda War........Not only in Iraq but even with domestic issues such as Katrina.
Say what you will about Bill Clinton, he was a master at molding public opinion. Even though Clinton had the liberal news media firmly in his corner, Clinton's "War Room" would mount a frontal attack on any public relations problem within one news cycle.
By comparison, when the Democrat Governor of Louisiana and the Democrat Mayor of New Orleans ignore their own evacuation plan and leave tens of thousands of poor people stranded in a flood surge zone, the message that America gets is, "Bush hates black people" and the reply from the White House is:
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