Posted on 04/09/2006 9:00:05 AM PDT by Leisler
Posted Sunday, Apr. 09, 2006
Two senior military officers are known to have challenged Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld on the planning of the Iraq war. Army General Eric Shinseki publicly dissented and found himself marginalized. Marine Lieut. General Greg Newbold, the Pentagon's top operations officer, voiced his objections internally and then retired, in part out of opposition to the war. Here, for the first time, Newbold goes public with a full-throated critique:
In 1971, the rock group The Who released the antiwar anthem Won't Get Fooled Again. To most in my generation, the song conveyed a sense of betrayal by the nation's leaders, who had led our country into a costly and unnecessary war in Vietnam. To those of us who were truly counterculture—who became career members of the military during those rough times—the song conveyed a very different message. To us, its lyrics evoked a feeling that we must never again stand by quietly while those ignorant of and casual about war lead us into another one and then mismanage the conduct of it. Never again, we thought, would our military's senior leaders remain silent as American troops were marched off to an ill-considered engagement. It's 35 years later, and the judgment is in: the Who had it wrong. We have been fooled again. From 2000 until October 2002, I was a Marine Corps lieutenant general and director of operations for the Joint Chiefs of Staff. After 9/11, I was a witness and therefore a party to the actions that led us to the invasion of Iraq—an unnecessary war. Inside the military family, I made no secret of my view that the zealots' rationale for war made no sense. And I think I was outspoken enough to make those senior to me uncomfortable. ...
(Excerpt) Read more at time.com ...
How can you take anything seriously after this opening?
Why I think retired Generals should STFU
That was exactly what I thought.
Yes
There are Marines who cannot cut the mustard. 3 stars does not make people all knowing and powerful.
I wonder how this idiot is able to draw retirement.
This idiot probably wanted another 15 years of sanctions.
Whiners dont fit in within the Marines.
Probably a Clintoon appointee. I hear no critique of Kosovo operations from this pandering perfumed prince.
He must be selling a book.
For every retired General who thinks this was an unnecessary war I bet you can find 50 who think it is necessary ...so why does Time find and print this guy? I wonder?
Would'a, could'a, should'a.
Next.
Source selection goes from the very top of the paleomedia, right down to the cub reported getting statements at his first car accident.
Too bad the General didn't have the foresight to get funding for body armor into the budget back in 1997 so the troops would have it in 2003.
Methinks the general takes himself a hell of a lot too seriously. Is he right or wrong? After reading his thoughts, I'm convinced that he thinks everyone is out of step but him! What a pompous ass he must be. I'm glad this jerk was retired.
It speaks to everything that is the modern liberal. They do take kids' bands seriously- The Who, The Beatles, whatever delinquent teenage crap they became fixated upon as youths, and then vowed to inflict on the real world their entire lives.
They may have cut their hair and manage to hold jobs under the protection of unions and tenure, but in taking their message to heart... don't worry, we are NOT being fooled in the least.
"What we are living with now is the consequences of successive policy failures. Some of the missteps include: the distortion of intelligence in the buildup to the war, McNamara-like micromanagement that kept our forces from having enough resources to do the job, the failure to retain and reconstitute the Iraqi military in time to help quell civil disorder, the initial denial that an insurgency was the heart of the opposition to occupation, alienation of allies who could have helped in a more robust way to rebuild Iraq, and the continuing failure of the other agencies of our government to commit assets to the same degree as the Defense Department. My sincere view is that the commitment of our forces to this fight was done with a casualness and swagger that are the special province of those who have never had to execute these missions—or bury the results."
DNC talking points.... and then the accusation that the Government - when Bush is Pres.- doesn't care about the military.
Interesting....where was he when Clinton sent the "Black Hawk Down" crew to their deaths....talk about "casualness and swagger".
He doesn't seem to say very much of substance. He's entitled to his opinion just as I'm entitled to read it and think "so what?". Where that leaves us is one more guy who seems to have an irrational, out-of-proportion hatred of Rumsfeld.
As a historian and philosopher, he is lacking. He should stick to his day job.
And the sand is shifting right under his feet. His case, that Saddam had nothing to do with Al Qaeda, was always bogus, and its unraveling to the point that only a Democrat could continue to deny it at this point.
Its easy to simply assert that taking Saddam down was unnecessary. He hasn't explained how you would dismantle a world-wide movement while leaving its sources of funding, refuge, technical support, and strategic support in place.
He hasn't explained how we were going to continue to "contain" Saddam when he had already bought key members of the Security Council, and had UN management on his payroll.
He hasn't explained how we might have disarmed Libya without the images sent world-wide of Saddam being fished out of a hole in the ground. He hasn't explained how we would apply any sense of seriousness to our negotiations with Iran without the prior example of knocking over the governments of both of their neighbors.
He says he would have been willing to fight a war in Afghanistan. The war in Afghanistan is still on, and he isn't there. He's jockeying for position in a second Clinton administration. They deserve each other.
Absolutely not! - I not only admire Rumsfeld tremendously but I admire the president for showing guts and not giving in to the lefties who are dying to have Rumsfeld for a trophy. As much as I love the Military, they can also become lazy, unmotivated, stale, unless someone kicks them in the a** once in a while. The Pentagon can also be just another bureaucracy, just looking after themselves.
Wasn't the band simply called "Who," anyway? I don't remember. [hehe]
And the beat goes on...
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