Posted on 08/29/2006 11:29:58 AM PDT by meandog
HAMPTON--U.S. Rep. Jo Ann Davis, a Republican, hasn't ever agreed with Sen. Hillary Clinton on anything. But she is siding with the New York Democrat in calling for Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld's resignation.
"I've made no bones about it the last two years," the 1st District congresswoman told members of the Hampton Roads Chapter of the American Society of Military Comptrollers. "He's probably a nice guy, but I don't think he's a great secretary of defense."
Davis said she based her determination in part on Rumsfeld's handling of the war in Iraq.
She pointed to his 2003 firing of Gen. Eric Shinseki. Before the war started, Shinseki, then the Army chief of staff, publicly said he believed that hundreds of thousands of U.S. troops would be needed in Iraq during the postwar period.
(Excerpt) Read more at fredericksburg.com ...
The wonders of formaldehyde are endless.
...see post 18 above. During his first term in office, he still had the majority of the country behind him (remember he beat incumbent Veep Humphrey) and he should have gone all out with a massive bombing attack and invasion of the North... (his massive bombing in 1973 proved, at least, to be the spark to get Ho to the peace table but it was too late then as the country's support had all but evaporated)
Secretary Rumsfeld appears to be the latter day Robert McNamara. I feel it is well past time for him to leave and give another man with a solid military background to lead the war.
Her lifetime ACU rating is 90 and 88 for 2004 and and 84 for 2005.
"More boots on the Ground" in a Counter Insurgency mission does ONE thing. It alienates and marginalized friendly local forces. Rather then helping the locals get their crap together, "More Boots on the ground" crowd would simply push them to the margins as the Americans do everything. That what happened in Vietnam.
The result is the occupying power is seen as invaders instead of allies. Thus the "More boots on the ground" crowd would turn the "Insurgency": into a peoples war against US AND eliminate any local support for the Counter Insurgency political structure.
This is the problem with trying to fight an Asymmetrical War with Conventional Military forces. The Conventional Forces have neither the training nor the proper mindset for limited war. They are a broadsword trying to do a rapiers job. It simply doesn't work.
The Russians in Afghanistan, the Nazis in Eastern Europe, Napoleon in Spain, US and French in Vietnam. etc etc etc etc. How many times do the Know Nothings have to fail before they wake up to the fact that Total War and Asymmetrical Warfare are two completely different missions.
We are winning in Iraq because we did NOT listen to the old Heavy Armor Know Nothings like Powell and Shinseki's. Under Rummy we waged a serious, smart Counter Insurgency effort from the start. The fact that we are well on our way to winning instead of fighting Vietnam 1.2 SHOWS the Know Nothings position is intellectual absurd. The only person who has been validated in Iraq is Rummy
We will win in Iraq for exactly the reason the rabid know nothings FAILED in Vietnam. This time we understood the difference between Counter Insurgency and Total War. Something the usual collection of Freeper Armchair Generals STILL either cannot, or will not, learn.
It is possible that were it not for the political environment created by the Watergate mess, that Nixon would have been able to sustain the level of support for South Vietnam that the Democrats were able to deny them.
In spite of Nixon's abuses on the issue, I have never been convinced that we have ever known the real origins of the events that created it. I have read speculation that the FBI man, now, recently revealed as "Deep Throat" was part of those who instigated the initial bugging that the "plumbers were sent in to remove"; bugging that was actually trying to track a call-girl ring that using the Democrats HQ; a call girl ring that included a woman who counted John Dean as one of her clients; and that Dean and deep throat actually manipulated Nixon's team to get the bug removed so that Dean's exposure would not become known.
Or so I've read.
Is this the chick who left her husband and three children and married that braintrust congresscritter, Tom Davis?
another pat buchannan republican (a/k/a closet liberal)
We did not lose the military war in viet nam.
We had traitors like Walter Cronkit spining the USA into defeat. We had democrats BS for political gain.
This continual whining at Rummy has nothing to to with Policy, it has to do with Politics. They hate the way Rummy dishes it out to them. As usual, they are just looking to silence an effective voice on the Right.
****Snip
Looks like Miss Davis has just destroyed any hopes for getting a future shot at a Senate seat. What a shame.
She isn't Senate quality regardless. She has only a H.S. diploma and built her reputation in real estate.
BTW, I know you Vols want to claim him but Elvis was born in Mississippi! And why didn't you list Sgt. Alvin York as a great Tennessean?
"Looks like Miss Davis has just destroyed any hopes for getting a future shot at a Senate seat. What a shame."
Er, so do I. I'll put my self-education on history and politics against any Ivy-Leaguer.
It was too late for such actions and there was always the concern about expanded Chinese and Soviet involvement.
If you want the real truth about the Vietnam war, read the Boston Manifesto As a Vietnam veteran, I found it to be the best overall portrayal of the war and its consequences.
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