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 ...
And I'm not arguing the gist of the article. Not at all. Merely pointing out one exception I happen to know about.
Thank God for Rummy!
Donald Rumsfeld should only resign to accept the GOP nomination for President of the United States!
He certainly bore a lot more of the responsibility than he has been willing to own up to.
I think he's an armchair quarterbacking putz. But to each his own! :-)
You don't go against your superiors at time of war, or damage the morale of our troops.
Shame on the Generals!
Further, people that worked with Newbold speculated it was because he did not like Rummy's management style (too hands on for his liking). Newbold at the time said he didn't want to put his family through yet another move, which would basically be a guarentee with the 4th star.
And you make Brit Hume's point.
What they're complaining about took place 3 or 4 years ago...
...Why didn't they complain then???
That's been my thoughts all along. The only people these generals are hurting are the military men and women they are supposed to care about. I am appalled at their willingness to hurt the war effort and stab our President and Commander in Chief in the back.
I hope this backfires and that they'll retire with a traitorous lable on their military careers by their peers and the majority of Americans.
"Marine LtGen Newbold did resign, in essence, although he didn't speak out against Rummy when doing so. He had been rumored as possible Commandant of the Marine Corps material, but decided to retire rather than get his fourth star (citing fatigue and family concerns, IIRC)."
Rumored? There are lots of rumors. Read my tagline.
Except for Zinni who retired before 9-11 and Riggs who was forced out, they did resign. They also retired but in effect they resigned.
It's a congressional election year, they likely have been swayed by the DNC to speak out. I agree that if they had such deep concerns, they should have resigned then, showing some spine.
Because going public with dirty laundry while you're still a general would probably have ramifications
No, retiring is not the same as resigning.
>>>>Because going public with dirty laundry while you're still a general would probably have ramifications
Like what? Being made to resign?
General Matthew Ridgeway retired two months before his term was up because he was unable to agree with the Eisenhower administration on the proper size of the U.S. Army. He wanted a big army fueled by the draft; Ike and his sec of defence Charlies Wilson wanted a smaller one (800,000 by the way!). He even got his book out a couple of years later, explaining his views. Not incidentally, twenty years later General Ridgeway was saying that the volunteer army would never work. We, of course, have the case of General MacArthur. The predecessors of the same Democrats who defended Truman on the basis of the principle of civilian supremacy over the military--a cornerstone of our constitutional system, are now put in the position that the Republicans were in 1951, which is to criticize the policy and applauid the servive of the generals without acknowledging the right of the military to determine public policy.
Good letter. One quibble: I wouldn't call six retired generals "a galaxy". They're more like a constellation. Let's call them "The Big Dipper."
I have heard of threats (no, I have no proof) regarding pensions. Whether they could be pulled off is another story, but at the general/flag officer level that's a significant amount of money/privileges.
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