Rumsfeld's self-inflicted wounds

LA Times ^ | November 12, 2006 | Frederick W. Kagan

[neverdem]

The outgoing defense secretary was too focused on transforming the military, and failed to plan for achieving political goals in Iraq.

DONALD RUMSFELD had the chance to be one of the great American heroes of all time. He held office at a moment of enormous danger. He had many admirable qualities necessary for success. But like the tragic heroes of old, hubris and inflexibility made vices of his virtues, leading to his own fall and the collapse of his life's work.

Rumsfeld was in many ways ideally suited to be secretary of Defense in the wake of 9/11. His experience in the same position under President Ford and as ambassador to NATO seemed to fit him to the task of overseeing a complex military coalition. His determination and self-confidence were essential in a wartime secretary — and unusual in recent times. When he showed, early in his tenure, that he meant to take positive control of the Pentagon's sprawling bureaucracy, many observers cheered. This was precisely the sort of man the nation needed at the military's helm at a time of crisis.

As former CIA Director Robert Gates prepares to succeed Rumsfeld, the chorus is already rising to declare that Gates must be more open to advice from the military, more of a consensus-builder than a tyrant. Perhaps. It isn't clear how a more open secretary of Defense would have fared given the advice the military gave Rumsfeld.

Belief in the value of technology and the need for light, swift ground forces pervaded the senior military leadership in the 1990s. Then-Army Chief of Staff Gen. Eric Shinseki had launched an ambitious program to "lighten" the Army and equip it with advanced precision weapons. Shinseki certainly warned that more troops would be needed to secure Iraq in the wake of major...

[EGPWS]

"Rumsfeld's mediaWHORE-inflicted wounds"!

Well put RoseofTexas!

[Hoplite]

Politics is State's domain, breaking things is Defense's.

The President assigned postwar Iraq to the DoD in January of 2003. The ORHA and CPA reported to Rumsfeld, not Powell.

[MNJohnnie]

The Russians followed your doctrine in Afghanistan. The French followed in in Algeria. How did that work out.

We did not follow it in El Salvador. We won, your doctrine has always lost.

We have won in Iraq. Read the data. Successful Guerrilla War goes thru 3 stages. In Iraq the "Insurgency" is stuck in stage one while the Counter Insurgency has all ready reached stage three. Simply a matter of time now. The only people who can win this for the Terrorists are the Democrats in the US Congress.

Stage One. Small scale operations.

Inflict casualties, court the local population. This stage is political and psychological and its goal is to drive a wedge between the enemy and the local population by provoking the enemy into doing things that alienate and harass the people in a manner that can be readily and quickly reported on television.

Stage Two. Integrated small and larger units.

Increase the tempo by drawing the enemy into ambushes and establisihing areas where the enemy cannot maneuver. Create the impression of opposition failure by attacking the enemy's isolated small forces with your intermediate forces. Exhaust the enemy through superior intelligence, mobility and stealth. Force the enemy into asymmetric battle that simultaneously drains his resources and creates extreme actions that generate hostility in the local population.

Stage Three. Conventional forces.

Large conventional forces are employed in battle against a demoralized enemy lacking support at home. Offer a cease fire as a way out and a token to the world of peaceful and reasonable intentions

http://icasualties.org/oif/

http://icasualties.org/oif/IraqiDeaths.aspx

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iraqi_Security_Forces

[ShawTaylor]

Rumsfeld's self-inflicted wounds


Another piece of junk reporting from the the LA Slimes.
Why don't they talk about the the LA Slimes's self, inflicted wounds then?

After all, their circulation is down the toilet, profits are down, sales are down, staff are being laid off, and the paper is on the block looking for some poor sucker to buy that useless rag..all because if their rabid anti-Americanism, lies and liberal bias.

[EGPWS]

You gotta have a dirty, brutal, unconventional war against terrorist fruitcakes nutters - or admit defeat.

And to think they won the majority in the '06 election.

[alarm rider]

"You gotta have a dirty, brutal, unconventional war against terrorist fruitcakes nutters - or admit defeat. They're the only choices in these situations. Sadly not too many see that at the moment."

You are correct, and we may never see it again. We have not been able to take the gloves off since WWII. We have been fighting PC wars since, and look where it has put us.

What is going to take for the US to once again do what military forces do? A military force is a blunt force instrument, and when it is controlled by silly politics, it is misused.

Frankly, I cannot see the day when the US will be allowed to win a war, I mean really win a war the way a war should be won. We are not allowed to punish our enemies, yet they continue to punish us. I cannot see the sense in this.

[EGPWS]

I cannot see the sense in this.

Everybody else wants their cut of the victory, thus a total win by the U.S. is stifled via foreign diplomacy.

The U.N. comes to mind.

[PzLdr]

And you explain Iraq, how? I've read several of Kagan's books. He's no idiot. And Rumsfeld was no genius.

[Yo-Yo]

Well, I can bet what one change in Iraq policy will come out of the Iraq Study Group.

[EGPWS]

And Rumsfeld was no genius

Was?

Why because you didn't have the opportunity to read a Rumsfeld book?

[ChinaGotTheGoodsOnClinton]

Where is the BARF ALERT on this?

[PzLdr]

His body of work speaks for itself - without his writing any books.

[Anti-Bubba182]

Frederick W. Kagan

[ggekko60506]

I agree; very well-stated.

Rummy was tasked with an almost impossible mandate: restructure the Military and fight the War on Terror.

Rummy was fighting constant political battles with members of the Brass in which he prevailed most of the time. Canceling the ridiculous Crusader Artillery System was one such battle and the top Army Brass had it in for him ever since that happened.

The Administration didn't help either by attempting to fight a politically correct war as in Viet Nam. With all due respect to this great American I do question the troop level commitment that we currently have in Iraq. I wonder whether or Rummy's judgment on the point may been effected by his internecine battles with the Generals.

[EGPWS]

His body of work speaks for itself - without his writing any books.

Your insight is to one's persona is shorted only by your choice of reading material.

[ErieGeno]

Contrary to popular belief, we won the war - handily. And we have won the peace. Sadaam is going to be executed soon and an elected government friendly to the US is in power. Reconstruction has reached the point where more oil is pumped and more electric power generated than before the war. Yes casualties are still ocurring. One way or another US troops are a target. Personally I prefer to fight Al-queda and their ilk overseas, rather than here in the CONUS. Did anybody think that Iraq was going to look like Kansas when this was done? They've been killing each other for millenia over there.

RKV, It seems that you and I are the only two who seem to understand that! When GW declared to the world aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln on May 2, 2003, "Mission accomplished", he was telling us that major combat operations in Iraq had ended and that the reconstruction phase had been entered.

Using the MSM's (and the democ rats) logic that the Iraq War is still being fought because we have troops there and they are still getting injured and killed, we need also to withdraw (redeploy) our troops from the two WWII theaters and Korea.

[trussell]

Your use of past tense is very telling. Rumsfeld is not deceased.

What are your credentials that make you qualified to judge his intelligence?

[Verginius Rufus]

Not to defend anything Kagan says in this article (and I read only the part excerpted here), but he has a Ph.D. from Yale and was teaching a few years ago at West Point. I believe Kimberly Kagan, who was teaching there at the same time, is his wife. He's the son of Donald Kagan, one of the most eminent Greek historians in the country, who has taught at Yale for 30-plus years, ever since he left Cornell in disgust after the craven way the administration dealt with the student protesters. Robert Kagan is his brother.

That Fred Kagan is no longer at West Point doesn't mean they canned him--apparently they bring in a lot of faculty on a short-term basis.

[woofie]

He did a thankless job at a critical time in history for 5 years (longer than most)...He deserves our thanks and praise

[PerConPat]

And yoy explain Iraq, how?

I'd say that Iraq etc. was/is a festering sore that was basically ignored for a dozen years until someone, Bush43, had the stones to try something. Of course, the 25% or so majority of those who bother to vote were never totally sold on invading Iraq; and guys like Rumsfeld had to run the war in a sufficiently humane and sensitive manner so as not to upset the gentle sensibilities of our very thoughtful, politically correct majority.

Rumsfeld could have been smarter, we all could have been. But the fact remains that this nation, at least the part that elects Dim fools and traitors, are just not very concerned about terrorist threats anymore. But I think that, in time, things will change. Unfortunately, I am wondering how many more dead American civilians it's going to take to grab our largely contented, overfed, peace-loving electorate's attention.