"Rumsfeld has shown himself to be incompetent, insensitive, blame thrower (casting aspersions at our Army for his failures)"
EVIDENCE - PLEASE!!
Actually, you don't have any .. and this pitiful attack on Rumsfeld is just over the top and way out of line. Since you're calling such an accomplished Patriot "incompetent" .. it's a good indication that you're the one who's incompetent. So .. to help you out - have somebody with a brain read the following to you - it's information you might be able to understand - but I won't be holding my breath:
The word from a soldier just back from Iraq (Awesome Letter to the Editor - San Diego Union Tribune) San Diego Union Tribune | 12/18/04 | DALE MELVILLE
Posted on 12/18/2004 7:25:08 AM PST by bkwells
The word from a soldier just back from Iraq
I have been in the Army for the last seven years. I have gone through the good and bad times in the military. It is a lifestyle that if you do not live every day, you cannot even come close to understanding.
I have been to Bosnia, Kosovo, and have just returned from Iraq. I can tell you that no one feels the loss of soldiers more than we do.
Even the families do not deal with the emotional pain and stress that we do when we have to pick up the remains of our friends – the same friends that we joked with, lived with, even shared our deepest fears and worries of life with, and in many cases the same friend who saved your life the week before.
I am always concerned with how the Army can be more effective at saving the lives of my fellow soldiers. Armor is not always the answer. In fact, armor can prevent us from being able to do our job. Every pound of armor makes us less effective fighters.
I patrolled the streets of Baghdad in a Humvee that had no doors, let alone armor. This was a decision that I made so that I was a more effective soldier. With better fields of vision, I could respond more effectively to the hazards of a combat zone.
I am an explosive ordnance disposal technician tasked with the removal of the roadside bombs, or IEDs, and unexploded ordnance in Iraq. The IEDs in Iraq often have enough explosives in them that the armor on most trucks proves to be ineffective at close range. Armor is a great asset and improves morale in some cases, but it is not the answer to our problems in Iraq.
There has never been an IED campaign in the history of the world like the one we are living through in Iraq. There is no way the leadership that sent us to war could possibly have known to expect these extreme attacks on its fighting force and the effects on the morale that the Army has suffered during these attacks. What the Army needs is to hunt out and destroy these insurgents, and that, of course, is not an easy task.
Then comes the true kick in the gut. The news media do not report the great things that we have accomplished in this country – the lives we have saved, and freedom that we are providing to a people who do, in fact, want this freedom. Freedom is not won overnight; there are pitfalls that must be overcome, and that takes time.
Instead, the media have decided to attack our morale by attacking our top leadership. There are a lot of things a soldier must deal with in combat; how are we supposed to perform when we have to deal with irrelevant controversy in Washington, D.C., as well?
The truth is that we have excellent leadership that supports us in every mission and provides us top-of-the-line equipment to accomplish our missions. We are at war, and war is not perfect.
I joined the Army because I love my country, a deeper and different love than I think most Americans can understand. I find this same patriotism in the soldiers I work with, even though there are prevalent risks to their lives. They do this because they and I believe in our country. We are soldiers: We adapt and over come all situations. We have been doing it since the birth of our country.
Leave our leadership alone, and we can and will win this war; and frankly, we do not need your selective reporting of how we are doing. We know our mission and objectives; our leadership has and continues to inform us wisely.
DALE MELVILLE Pine Bluff Arsenal, Ark.
The Viet Cong and North Vietnamese used many, many IED's.
My evidence comes from the news about Iraq, plain and simple. In just this latest matter, Rumsfeld admitted he didn't sign letters of condolence; how do you explain or justify this total lack of comprehension or caring on his part for the families of those who died valiantly carrying out his bizarre ideas for Iraq (the President can sign the letters, is it that Mr. Rumsfeld was just too busy cozying up to the press?) Its like what Jay Leno said, "Rumsfeld at his conference for the troops in Kuwait downplayed their need for armored vehicles. Then at the end of the conference, he climbed into his armored car and was driven to the airport|".
Thanks for posting that letter.
To those kicking Rumsfeld in this thread, saying that he's callous and casual towards our soldiers ... I find it difficult to believe that a man of such supposedly low character would run BACK INTO THE PENTAGON immediately after it was attacked by AQ on 9-11-01, to help his staff.