[george76]

Months before Sept. 11, as Rumsfeld began the transformation of the Pentagon, he ran into contumacious obstructionism from the army and its then-Chief of Staff Gen. Eric Shinseki. Shinseki dug his heels in and refused to change much of anything about the Army.

Shinseki went as far as to go behind Rumsfeld’s back to the Senate where his political mentor (and long-time family friend, Sen. Dan Inouye of Hawaii) and others backed his play.

But for the political cover Sen. Inouye gave Shinseki, he might have been fired then and there. Civilian control of the military means people such as Shinseki cannot be allowed to play the back-channel political games he played again and again.

Shinseki balked at striking at the Taliban. For the record, our forces slashed into the Taliban around Oct. 5, 2001, less than a month after Sept 11. But — aside from Rangers and Army Special Forces — the Army stayed home.

Shinseki wanted at least six months to assemble and move an enormous Soviet-like force into Afghanistan and the president wasn’t having any of it. This is why Shinseki retired in 2003 with a festering grudge against Rumsfeld.

And then Rumsfeld did the unthinkable. Instead of replacing Shinseki with one of his like-minded underlings, Rumsfeld looked for someone who would fight.

Gen. Peter Schoomaker, a Special Forces vet, was brought out of retirement to transform the Army in the middle of a war. And he did it. But in the process Rumsfeld, Schoomaker and his team shook up a lot of people.

[Rummyfan]

Interesting.....

[river rat]

Damn!
I guess I've been asleep for years..
This is the first I heard the "story" about Shinseki and his foot dragging and back door ethnic hero in the Senate...

Thanks for the ping.
Do you have a site that deals in depth with this issue?

Semper Fi

[Suzy Quzy]

Don Rumsfeld is the BEST!! Shinsheki is a weenie cabalist who can't think of a way out of a paper bag.

[shield]

Gen. Peter Schoomaker, a Special Forces vet [more like Delta], was brought out of retirement to transform the Army in the middle of a war. And he did it. But in the process Rumsfeld, Schoomaker and his team shook up a lot of people

Rumsfeld brought several Generals from various area of the country into the pentagon...shaking the pentagon up. Most of these generals are very patriotic and not toons' perfume generals'.

[Chgogal]

Just in case you missed Rush's Rant

The Democratic Party: A culture of treason
http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/home/daily/site_042406/content/america_s_anchorman.guest.html

and

Leaking At All Costs (a great read then and a better one now!)
http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/006/417aldhj.asp