[Parmy]

Like MacArthur, these old generals should just fade away.

[bnelson44]

This is a cheap shot. The investigations may prove it was simply misfortune. This general may or may not know better, but his has dishonored himself and his service by this nonsense.

[CharlesWayneCT]

He is right, there is a link between the "alleged atrocities" and the "failed policies". They are both apparently made up by enemies of our country.

[pissant]

I'd like to backhand this chump.

[LibWhacker]

The root causes are islam and a traitorous press, which eagerly latches onto every Benedict Arnold it can find.

[nikos1121]

I believe that it was Rumsfeld who wanted our troops to also invade Syria.

This ex soldier seems to be a half bubble off.

[NonLinear]

To the general:

[wideawake]

In other words, this scummer begins with the assumption that the allegations are true.

[Williams]

Batiste's credibility is spent, done with. A retired general who announces a direct connection between an ALLEGED atrocity and the Secretary of Defense?? Uh, he can't possibly know the facts, and the behavior of one group of Marines in one firefight is hardly the direct "fault" of the Secretary. This article is offensive.

Just wondering, is there a direct connection between Rumsfeld and the recent flattening of Zarqawi?? Or the new Irag govt.? How about to the president's succesful trip to bagdhad?

[pgyanke]

What son-of-a-%$@#% GENERAL starts with the assumption that our military members are cold-blooded killers?!

[RetiredSWO]

Recall this POS to active-duty

then courts-martial him

[plain talk]

(Retired General's analysis of) Haditha is but a symptom of a much bigger problem.

Yes. Retired Generals with too much time on their hands bloviating about a supposed problem when we don't have all the facts. How does one determine the root cause of a problem that may not even exist?

[delphirogatio]

Chauncy here has already analyzed the root causes of Haditha. I'm so glad some people decided to hang on to their Magic Eight Ball....which is the only way he could analyze the root causes of an event that hasn't even been thoroughly investigated.

[Old Seadog]

[trebb]

There is a direct link between the alleged atrocities in Haditha and Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld. His poor decisions and bad judgment in 2003 and 2004 are the root causes for the prolonged challenge we now face. Haditha is but a symptom of a much bigger problem.

How can one establish a connection between something that he has a (possibly minority) opinion about and something that may not have even occured?

The root cause of articles like this is that too many idiots believe their agenda-driven falsehoods are valid because "they should be true".

[Williams]

Although this will date me, David Frye did hilarious political imitations, including esp of Nixon. On his comedy album, I clearly remember Frye imitating some liberal weenie, rattling off all the terrible things Nixon was responsible for, the preposterous list ending with "and all this bad weather we've been having lately".

Batiste's article reminds me of that bit. Rumsfeld is now responsible for anything arguably bad that happens anywhere.

[jazusamo]

It is a sad day when Generals retire and take cheap shots at their bosses. If they felt that strongly they should have made it known while on active duty and resigned in protest. They have no honor.

[DoughtyOne]

The term 'root causes of Haditha', presumes that there was a crime committed. If there wasn't, then the root cause of this incident in Haditha is no different than the root cause for any action in the theater of war.

[ctdonath2]

There cannot be a direct link between two things when one never happened.
There cannot be a root cause of something that isn't.

[Darkwolf377]

We continue to bleed our national treasure in blood and dollars.

Liberals love this line. I've never seen so many libs concerned about high government spending.

[SevenMinusOne]

You cannot do this with precision bombs from 30,000 feet. This is tough, dangerous, and very personal work. Numbers count.

Nor have we for one minute in this WOT/Iraq tried to accomplish anything via the above manner -

Maj. Gen. (Ret. -thankfully!) John Batiste has had his poor little (clearly) fragile ego hurt and has completely dishonored himself over the past year or so -

The reality is in any conflict it is easy to second guess decisions that have been made - Even in the best of victories there are likely a number of things one would do different if given the chance (espeically knowing everything they know after the fact).

But the true reality remains SecDef Rumsfeld as led in taking the fight to our enemies. He has supported our fighting men and women 100% and that he has ruffled a few feathers (mainly in the old Big Green) so be it!

Gen. Batiste is completely off base and we are better off with him being (Ret) without question! (and sadly and apparently angrily Gen Batiste knows this as well).