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If Rumsfeld's so bad, why didn't generals resign?
Chicago Sun Times ^ | April 17, 2006 | BY THOMAS LIPSCOMB

Posted on 04/17/2006 5:48:39 AM PDT by .cnI redruM

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.

(Excerpt) Read more at suntimes.com ...


TOPICS: Editorial; Foreign Affairs; Front Page News; Government; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: generals; hypocrites; hypocrits; mmqbs; moneymoneymoney; rumsfeld; thomaslipscomb; whiners
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To: .cnI redruM

Kind of gives a glimpse of the ideology of our congress critters.


21 posted on 04/17/2006 6:26:17 AM PDT by buck61
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To: .cnI redruM

Semantically you are correct, but that's it.


22 posted on 04/17/2006 6:28:22 AM PDT by leadpenny
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To: fireforeffect

Guilt association?
Zinni was week in his command, he couldn't help him self, his former commander in chief trained him to be weak.


23 posted on 04/17/2006 6:29:48 AM PDT by buck61
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To: rightazrain

How do you know that he was not allowed to resign to save face? It is well known that wartime leadership requires different skills than being a peacetime general. The latter are promoted for political manuvering, and what these men are doing is all political. No surprise they were not needed in the WOT.


24 posted on 04/17/2006 6:29:51 AM PDT by ClaireSolt (.)
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To: leadpenny
No, there's a much bigger difference than semantics. Resigning and publicly stating why you are resigning is laying it on the line. Just turning down a promotion and accepting a smaller retirement check is not a legitimate proxy.

This is particularly true if you later demand the immediate resignation of somebody else.
25 posted on 04/17/2006 6:34:22 AM PDT by .cnI redruM (Watching the Left turn on Senator McCain amuses me somehow....)
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To: Coop
He had been rumored as possible Commandant of the Marine Corps material

An extremely remote possibility.

26 posted on 04/17/2006 6:36:43 AM PDT by A.A. Cunningham
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To: A.A. Cunningham
An extremely remote possibility.

I'm not arguing that. :-) Especially watching him in action now. But he did hold a high profile J-3 position (I think) on the Joint Staff.

27 posted on 04/17/2006 6:39:11 AM PDT by Coop (Proud founding member of GCA - Gruntled Conservatives of America)
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To: elc

I wouldn't care to go to IBM, EXXON, Mobil, GE, Westinghouse
are any other company and I would find many of these know it all generals. But we all know who holds the power as long as there is success in these corporations.
Rumsfeld will be known in history as one of the best military CEO America has ever had.
If I were him I would be very careful who else is lurking in the back ground, there will be others, Hillterbeast has found something to get her canines into for her campaign.


28 posted on 04/17/2006 6:40:24 AM PDT by buck61
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To: .cnI redruM

Did any of the six get a 'bump' before retirement?


29 posted on 04/17/2006 6:49:24 AM PDT by Roccus
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To: Coop

When Newbold refused to continue giving briefings to the press after being kidded by Rumsfeld and Myers about saying the Taliban had been eviscerated he showed his hand of being a thing skinned, immature, weasel. Any stock he had prior to that went right down the s****er.


30 posted on 04/17/2006 6:50:12 AM PDT by A.A. Cunningham
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To: Roccus
That totally doesn't matter to me. If a person is going to ask for someone else's head on a silver platter, they had better offer their own necks up first or their credibility equals zero.
31 posted on 04/17/2006 6:50:35 AM PDT by .cnI redruM (Watching the Left turn on Senator McCain amuses me somehow....)
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To: Roccus

Bump? You mean a promotion? There's a service obligation if you accept a promotion (generally two years, although it might be more at the general/flag level).


32 posted on 04/17/2006 6:50:58 AM PDT by Coop (Proud founding member of GCA - Gruntled Conservatives of America)
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To: A.A. Cunningham
When Newbold refused to continue giving briefings to the press after being kidded by Rumsfeld and Myers about saying the Taliban had been eviscerated he showed his hand of being a thing skinned, immature, weasel. Any stock he had prior to that went right down the s****er.

I remember reading about that, but do not recall it as it actually occurred. :-)

33 posted on 04/17/2006 6:51:43 AM PDT by Coop (Proud founding member of GCA - Gruntled Conservatives of America)
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To: .cnI redruM

"Resigning and publicly stating why you are resigning is laying it on the line."

Now you're adding your own definition.

Nothing anywhere says you have to make a big noise when you leave. Actions are sometimes enough.

BTW, we don't know what any of these generals said to the Army CofS on their way out the door.


34 posted on 04/17/2006 6:53:08 AM PDT by leadpenny
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To: .cnI redruM

The ppor babies got their feelings and egos hurt when Rummy demanded they have their stuff togetehr when they went in to see him. They're used to trampling on subordinates, not having it done to them for being less than 100% competent.


35 posted on 04/17/2006 6:54:20 AM PDT by trebb ("I am the way... no one comes to the Father, but by me..." - Jesus in John 14:6 (RSV))
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To: leadpenny

If a person is going to ask for someone else's head on a silver platter, they had better offer their own necks up first or their credibility equals zero.


36 posted on 04/17/2006 6:55:13 AM PDT by .cnI redruM (Watching the Left turn on Senator McCain amuses me somehow....)
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To: Coop; .cnI redruM
IIRC Brit Hume yesterday mentioned that they did not get expected promotions and that this was mostly sour grapes.
IMO, if these officers felt at the time the way they say they feel now, they were derelict in not voicing their objections.
37 posted on 04/17/2006 6:56:23 AM PDT by Roccus
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To: Roccus

In the Army; certainly. He's attempted to reinvent that service's entire culture. No Old Boy network ever dies a peaceful death.


38 posted on 04/17/2006 7:04:02 AM PDT by .cnI redruM (Watching the Left turn on Senator McCain amuses me somehow....)
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To: Guenevere
I am sure they did register their complaints through the Chain of Command just as I'm sure that the requests for more troops have been denied.

It is dangerous to have a person in charge who has quit not once but twice. Rumsfeld needs to be replaced.

39 posted on 04/17/2006 7:05:03 AM PDT by Yasotay
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To: .cnI redruM
The Perfumed Princes are having their little hissy fits.

Admiral Zinni is an anti-Semite Democrat.....a real Israel hater.

40 posted on 04/17/2006 7:05:28 AM PDT by Suzy Quzy
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