“There’s no getting around the fact that without the additional troops Petreaus requested that Rumsfeld said weren’t needed America wouldn’t be as successful as we’ve been in Iraq.”
It wasn’t 500,000 troops buddy.
Shinseki is an idiot and a perfect example of a Clinton general.
You're correct, Petreaus didn't request 500,000 to ensure the success of the surge Rumsfeld was against. Gen Petreaus requested and President Bush authorized a troop surge that achieved the success we now enjoy in Iraq. A surge that never would have happened if Rumsfeld had remained SecDef. Gen Petreaus' surge saved American lives. We can only guess how many lives would've been saved if Rumsfeld had approved the surge.
Donald Rumsfeld was a more profound and negligent idiot for first ignoring the growing AQI threat, for not responding swiftly and decisively when that threat was identified, for never acting to secure Iraq's borders to Syria and Iran, and for resisting the surge, which ultimately was the thing that broke the back of AQI. Rumsfeld was WRONG, WRONG, WRONG.
Rumsfeld's idiocy cost a lot of lives, and for that, the only salute he'll ever get from me is the back of my hand.