Posted on 03/29/2002 10:27:59 AM PST by Pancho13
Rumsfeld Blasts Top Brass General, admiral had complained publicly
By RICHARD SISK Daily News Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld ripped two four-star officers yesterday for saying U.S. service members were tired and running out of a key weapon in the war on terror.
Rumsfeld also announced the death of a Navy SEAL, who stepped on a land mine near Kandahar, Afghanistan.
In a rare public rebuke for the top brass, Rumsfeld and Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, used a televised Pentagon briefing to criticize Army Gen. William Kernan and Adm. Robert Natter, commander of the Atlantic Fleet.
Rumsfeld said Kernan, chief of the Joint Forces Command, was out of line for telling a House panel two weeks ago that the troops were tired because "we are busier than we have ever been."
Rumsfeld said the 1.4 million men and women on active duty don't "begin to fit that characterization."
Natter came under fire for saying the Navy had run short of joint direct attack munitions, or J-DAMs, and had to borrow some of the satellite-guided bombs from the Air Force.
"We damn near ran out in Afghanistan," Natter said three weeks ago.
"The inventory is not depleted," said Myers, who then got into trouble himself. "Even my wife understood this one."
That drew oohs from the media crowd.
"You're in trouble everywhere now," Rumsfeld said in mock horror. "When you say, 'even my wife' — even I know better than to say that."
Myers sheepishly sought to recover by saying, "Mary Jo, turn off the TV."
Uncertainty Persists
After giving an overview of the war, which they said showed steady progress, Rumsfeld and Myers bristled at questions about the troops' readiness.
But concern is widespread at the Pentagon that U.S. forces may be overextended by worldwide commitments.
Top Pentagon officials also have acknowledged that they are pressing manufacturers to churn out more J-DAMs.
Retired Rear Adm. Eugene Carroll said the rebuke of two top officers was highly unusual.
"Reprimands are usually done in private for going off the reservation," he said.
In other developments:
Chief Petty Officer Matthew Bourgeois, 35, a Navy SEAL from Tallahassee, Fla., was killed when he stepped on a land mine during a training exercise near Kandahar. Another serviceman, who was not identified, was wounded in the blast but was expected to recover. Pakistani police arrested more than 30 Islamic militants, including some alleged members of Al Qaeda, in raids in the cities of Lahore and Faisalbad in Punjab province. One suspect was killed and four wounded in shootouts during the raids, the Interior Ministry said.
Original Publication Date: 3/29/02
"Secretary of Defense William S. Cohen announced today that the President has nominated Navy Vice Adm. Robert J. Natter for appointment to the grade of admiral with assignment as commander, U.S. Atlantic Fleet, Norfolk, Va."
"Gen. William F. "Buck" Kernan became the first Army general to head NATO's Allied Command Atlantic when he took the reins of leadership from Adm. Harold W. Gehman during a change of command ceremony aboard the U.S.S. Theodore Roosevelt Sept. 5 in Norfolk, Va. "Along with becoming the supreme allied commander, Atlantic, Kernan became the commander in chief of the recently redesignated U.S. Joint Forces Command. "Buck Kernan is one of the nation's best rapid reactors -- as the leader of the 75th Ranger Regiment and most recently as the commander of the 18th Airborne Corps, America's premier rapid reaction force," said Secretarty of Defense William S. Cohen."
It goes back to the silly reporter asking I think it was Rumsfeld, when our next special opps attack was going to take place, I.E., date and time of it. That was stupid don't cha think?
Haiti
Bosnia
Europe
Focus is key. We are in WW IV, and keeping the troops fresh is critical.
We seem to be pursuing a wise strategy of one terrorist crackpot dictatorship at a time. Good. That has meaning for troop deployment. Next up is Iraq, so let's pull in our horns elsewhere so that we have overwhelming concentration of force there.
Other dominoes will fall more easily, and perhaps without force if we can roll from crushing victory to crushing victory. Focus, gentlemen.
Because WAR time protocol is different, and rightfully so. I'm utterly amazed at these two, they should have known better. What I'm curious about is why there was no briefing with Rumsfield prior to testimony.
Just call me Rip Van Winkle ..... I slept right through WW III.
It seems to me that the nature of Rumsfields rebuke was that the Generals did not have the facts, not that they should not have revealed them to the House Panel. In other words Rumsfield says our troops are fresh, while the General and Admiral say they are tired.
This is just a guess, but I would tend to think that a congress person leaked the General's testimony to the press?
God forbid they actually tell the truth. And how can you say they are not tired and pumped??? We are deployed all over the world, and just remember, our President kept hammering the point home just a year and a half ago that our military was in a poor state of readiness. He did not magically solve that overnight or over the past year.
Our troops are stretched thin. I've got buddies serving overseas, both in the Persian Gulf, and in what's left of the former Yugoslavia. They are having a hell of a time. Unfortunately, congress and Bush won't pull our troops out of all the nation building missions, so our troops in the hotspots are having to do more than they normally would.
The CURRENT administration? Can you enlighten us about Clintoons extensive miltitary expearience. I think all of us, on this thread ,would like to know. We can handle it.
. . .
Natter came under fire for saying the Navy had run short of joint direct attack munitions, or J-DAMs, and had to borrow some of the satellite-guided bombs from the Air Force.
"We damn near ran out in Afghanistan," Natter said three weeks ago.
The way I read this, it seems that it was before Congress in open session and the other guy spoke out loud also it seems. That is the way I read it.
Anyway, like I said before, Rumsfield seems upset not so much that they said it, as upset at what they said. He disagrees that the Navy almost ran out of bombs and that the troops are tired.
Dissent is all good.
I missed something. What country in their right mind , during a war, would spread this information around? Can you explaine this new kind of strategy?
"He did not magiclly solve it overnight or over the past year."
Your right. He didn't solve eight years of neglect overnight.
WW IV just takes on the latest megalomaniacal tyrrany: Islamic Fascism. Choose sides folks, this is going to be a long one.
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