This current crop of McClellan wannabes seem to be more interested in their own "feelings" than either the mission or the good of the troops.
The Marxist Media and the democrat Party are determined to lose this war and take destroy the USA in the process. It is past time for them to be taken down and destroyed instead.
Good article, thanks for posting. Was this in the NYTimes today? I think these retired generals are doing harm more to themselves than to anyone else. They forfeited any respect from this american when they went on the public record, airing their personal disagreements with Rummy. They are part of the DNC's plan to undermine the President in a time of war, inexcusable behavior. They have crossed the line from supporting their troops, to spitting on them.
There are 8,000+ Generals retired and active duty in our military. Six of them want Rumsfeld to quit. At what point do we say whoop-dee-doo?
He does micro-manage, interfere with decisions made by subordinates, plays rough, is obnoxious and overbearing. He is also brilliant, obsessively patriotic and hard-working, and the last person bin Laden wants as Secratary of Defense. No one else makes the enemy fear for their lives........period.......
Can you imagine what the next Secretary of Defense confirmation hearings would be like? Rumsfeld better stay for the duration, if we're lucky.
This man is absolutely correct. Generals have a big say in how operations are conducted. The ones who are complaining now in the media after becoming "retired" are the ones Clinton promoted. There is more work to do.
Thanks for the post, it's a very good article. I would like to see General Delong do a few interviews on TV and relate this information as Generals Meyers and Franks have.
I remember hearing one officer, "retired" by Rumsfeld complaining bitterly that he always did what Rumsfeld told him to do and got set aside. The folks that got ahead were always arguing with Rumsfeld. It seemed unfair to him. Lemme guess. Could it be that Rumsfeld doesn't like suckups and doesn't like generals who cannot hold their own in an argument over the best way to conduct an operation where the lives and honor of America's finest men and women are at stake?
Uh, my friends, making decisions and delegating execution is not micromanagement. That is leadership. It is just that a lot of the Clinton promoted generals had not seen much of that.
You knew this was what it was all about. When a former Major General of Infantry shows up the same day on 3 morning Network "News" programs whining about the Sec of Defense being "Abusive" you KNOW it is politics not principal.
I like Rumsfeld!
Democrats are promising former Flag officers the moon, from Consulting contracts to publishing deals if they can successfully help the Democrats regain power. For some of those guys, they really don't have much of a choice. Rummy kicked 3 of them out before they were ready, and the others cant afford the lifestyle they had when the military paid the freight.
They have lost their honor.
As a 24+ enlisted airman, I am ashamed of these men. I have worked for "political" generals before and it is not a pleasant experience.
The best leaders allow input from all sides, make a decision, and stand by it.
I've had respectful disagreements with generals. I have found that if I am confident in my experience and opinion, I have been able to affect the final outcome. If I can do it, these men should certainly have been capable of it. Instead, they whine and cry like little babies. I'm getting a little nauseous.....
I have great respect for ex-military men, but how can anyone hear Wesley Clark talk about world issues and not conclude that he's an ignoramus? His statement that Hussein, especially in light of recently revealed documents, had no link with Islamo-terrorism was breathtakingly stupid. Ex-generals can have agendas too.
bump
Remind me again why "conservatives" are calling for his ouster?
If Rumsfeld's so bad, why didn't generals resign?
April 17, 2006
BY THOMAS LIPSCOMB
http://www.suntimes.com/output/otherviews/cst-edt-ref17.html#
There is a great furor over whether the opinions of a number of retired high-ranking officers should tip the balance in the ongoing debate over the resignation of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.
But the question really isn't whether Rumsfeld should resign. He has already resigned several times and had President Bush tear up his letters of resignation. He clearly is taking responsibility for his actions on a continuing basis.
But now that a galaxy of flag officers are raining down on Rumsfeld demanding his resignation, no one seems to have bothered to ask which, if any, of these generals had ever submitted his own resignation in protest against the conduct of the Iraq war, or the bumpy transition we are locked in now. The demands for Rumsfeld's resignation began with Gen. Anthony Zinni.
Differences in policy between the Pentagon brass and its civilian leadership are nothing new. At the end of the Clinton administration there was a dinner at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York in honor of the Joint Chiefs off Staff that illustrates this well. Over the years the Council has morphed from a small but influential voice in international policy issues to a glorified Rotary Club for Park Avenue investment bankers and lawyers. The once acerbic off-the-record questioning that rattled many of its guests of honor has degenerated into a love fest hosted largely for star-struck millionaires.
After listening to subtle and not so subtle digs at national defense policy by the guests of honor and appreciative sniggers from the audience, I jotted a question down on the back of a card and passed it to former Secretary of the Navy John Lehman, who was at my table. ''If you have so many significant disagreements with national defense policy, what have you done about it?'' Lehman wrote back that if I asked that question, he'd buy me lunch, and passed it back to me with a smile. So I asked it.
''What do you expect us to do?'' a senior Marine general replied. ''Resign,'' I said. ''Cyrus Vance did. And he was [President Jimmy] Carter's secretary of state.'' ''You are questioning my cojones, and I am a Marine!'' the general shot back as the millionaire fan club gasped at my disrespect.
He was right. I was. I still am, his and any general officers who apparently decided discretion was the better part of a nice retirement parade with a medal or two and a couple of offers of board positions. At least Wesley Clark got himself fired and summarily retired as NATO commander in comparative disgrace for submarining the Balkans policies of his Oxford classmate President Bill Clinton and his defense secretary, William Cohen. Gen. Billy Mitchell is regarded by many as having saved American military aviation by accepting a court-martial and resigning from the service he loved because of his differences in policy with the federal government.
Retired military and civil servants are receiving ongoing retirement pay from American taxpayers. If they want to give the public the benefit of their experience in consideration of current policies, we are fortunate to get it. But policy differences are one matter and calls for a specific resignation are quite something else. As a book publishing executive for many years, I have always welcomed the opportunity to make a buck by publishing ''now it can be told revelations'' from those formerly in power. And timing those ''revelations'' to promote a forthcoming book is one of the oldest tricks in the trade.
But if Generals Gregory Newbold, John Batiste, Zinni and others have believed Rumsfeld's policies have been so dire that they are calling for his resignation, their opinions would have carried far more weight if they had stated them at some personal cost to themselves while on active service by resigning in protest. That action might have also carried some evidence of the courage Americans expect of the highest ranking officers of its uniformed services.
Thomas Lipscomb is senior fellow of the Annenberg Center for the Digital Future. He founded Times Books. tom@digitalfuture.org
The "paper of record" merits its name once in a while. Thanks for posting this guest OpEd column.