Seven Days in April -- Generals Prepare to 'Revolt' Against Rumsfeld

Real Clear Politics ^ | April 18, 2006 | Tony Blankley

[meandog]

Gawd, you again? Consider yourself on my permanent "ignore list"!

[rightazrain]

"I think he is over-analyzing this whole thing. "

I have another theory. He is preemptively striking, reminding any active duty generals contemplating such a course, to be very very afraid.

[brazzaville]

Good morning.
"You'd think we'd had a weeding-out procedure..."

We do. It began early in November of 2000 and again early in November of 2004.

It's a bear getting rid of public employees.

Michael Frazier

[Miss Marple]

HAHAHA! Are you afraid of me, a housewife in Indiana? WHO are those sources? Were you talking out of your hat or are they real? If they are real, WHO ARE THEY?

[rightazrain]

http://www.nypost.com/postopinion/opedcolumnists/67123.htm

Read this before you contemplate, even slightly, replacing Rummy.

[Yasotay]

30 April 1945 Stimson to Ike:

How did Uncle Joe get to the Rhine so quickly? Your link up with the Red Army on the Rhine was pretty good? ....Right?... That "Thunder Run" by Audie Murphy and his Old Army "Rock Of the Marne" out of southern France into Paris was something else! How did they do that? Don't worry about the rioting .... we can't occupy France. We wouldn't want to upset them.... A couple of side notes .... I'm sending a CPA to be your boss in Paris ... we can't have the military control anything ..... and you need to start raising, arming and equipping a New French Army to defend against that HUGE Army next door. I lost that memo you send about "Heavy" water, jets and rockets....don't worry about sending it again.

[SauronOfMordor]

A bunch of the two stars are POed because Rummy had too much control of the list for 3 stars.

They know that Rummy is going to closely examine the fitness of any general who got his first star under Clinton

[ARCADIA]

I read it; and disagree with it. No man is irreplaceable. Tell me there is a better strategy; that Rumsfeld for whatever reason refuses to abide by that strategy; and that we have found a better man for the task; and, I can be in favor of replacing him. But, AFAIK that argument hasn't been made.

[ChinaThreat]

McClellan may have built a great army. But McClellan didn't know how to use it. Are you familiar with the Battle of Antietam? Lee was a sitting duck. Mcclellan could have overrun the confederates and ended the war then. What did he do? Nothing. He pulled back. The confederacy lasted for three more years and costed the Union Army tens of thousands of more lives. This is probably the most costly mistake a US general has ever made and one of the worst blunders in military history.

He was overly cautious and overly meticulous. Waiting for all the right provisions and a moment that would never come. McClellan would be much better off pushing a pencil in Washington like many of these Generals running their mouths now (i.e. Zinni, Clark). It is men like Grant, Sherman, Jackson, Lee, MacArthur, Patton, Schwartzkoff, Franks and LeMay that win wars.

If you wait untill everything is perfect before engaging an enemy devoted to killing you, you will soon find yourself in a grave.

[meandog]

HAHAHA! Are you afraid of me, a housewife in Indiana? WHO are those sources? Were you talking out of your hat or are they real? If they are real, WHO ARE THEY?

Ohh-h-h-h, a good reporter (which I am) NEVER reveals his sources...you'll just have to guess.

[ChinaThreat]

In addition, McClellan is responsible for the most costly blunder in US millitary history by not overrunning Lee's forces at Antietam. He withdrew waiting for a moment that would never come. The confederacy lasted three more years and costs 10s of thousands of more Union lives.

[Donald Rumsfeld Fan]

We should all be happy. If they weren't pounding on Rummy, they'd be pounding on someone else.

If he wasn't pounded on it would tell me he's not doing his job.

[Miss Marple]

OK. Now I know you are a reporter...which explains your allegiance to McCain. And I know that you have sources in the Pentagon.

Keep talking.

[Yasotay]

15 April 1946

Nimitz promised to name an aircraft carrier after me if I don't quit. I think I'll rename the War Department ... what to you think? I understand Wild Bill wants still more money .... guarding wine can get expensive. Have you caught Hitler yet? Now remember you can't cross the Rhine ... only Wild Bill can and only when I let him. You sure are taking a long time training the French .... what is all that talking I hear from what's his name Charles de-Gaulle? BTW, Did you pay your taxes yet? .... Wild Bill wants more money to get Hitler. I lost another memo from you about uranium in North Korea and somewhere in Germany .... don't worry ... be happy ....

[RobbyS]

A lot of resignations as part of a conspiracy IS. Iunder our constitutional system, military officers cannot overtly engage in plots. Since 1689, Mutiny Acts have been part and parcel of the Anglo-American tradition.

[kabar]

It is also worth noting that there was a clamor to fire his Secretrary of War, Edwin M. Stanton. When pressure was exerted to remove the unpopular secretary from office, Lincoln replied, "If you will find another secretary of war like him, I will gladly appoint him." Stanton stayed on until 1868 thru the Johnson administration.

[RobbyS]

McClellan was also a Democrat, which explained his caution. Lincoln won the war because by 1864, the officer corps was Republican and so were most of the volunteers.

[Pukin Dog]

I would not get too worked up, as in the Pentagon, leaking is a practiced profession. Most people who leak from the Pentagon do it because they are ordered to do so. Very rarely are there damaging leaks from the Pentagon. Leaks that do damage come from the State Dept, but many are blamed on the Pentagon. I would also not be too worked up about Holbrook either, because it is only a cry for help. What you see in the media is simple desperation.

[kabar]

Leaks that do damage come from the State Dept, but many are blamed on the Pentagon.

BS