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Rumsfeld resigns under pressure
The Washington Times ^ | November 9, 2006 | Rowan Scarborough

Posted on 11/09/2006 2:19:06 AM PST by John Carey

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To: tonycavanagh

You wrote, Donald’s plan was go in take out Saddam get out.

Why do you think that was his plan? Looks to me like he wanted permanent bases in Iraq to keep an eye on the whole area.


41 posted on 11/09/2006 4:04:27 AM PST by Partisano
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To: tonycavanagh
Gents I am on leave wife is awake I am of out, will continue this in a couple of months time

Be safe and come back soon. All the best to you and your family.

42 posted on 11/09/2006 4:07:00 AM PST by Caipirabob (Communists... Socialists... Democrats...Traitors... Who can tell the difference?)
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To: John Carey

Everyone, including the Demilibs need to note that he was the longest employed SoS.


43 posted on 11/09/2006 4:09:02 AM PST by RepubMommy
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To: tonycavanagh
One of the views I have read goes like this:
After the military victory, this was one of the first war aftermaths where the State Department, albeit with a military titular heading it, wasn't used to set up an occupation/civil transition government. Instead we had DOD running a "special op" with amatuers and "contractors".

The typical scenerio called to the civil police to be left in force but as Saddam policed with the military, we decided to disband them all leaving a complete rebuilding job ahead of us and the total lack of cooperation from the Sunnis. This cooked off for nine months and the Shi'ia decided to make a power grab in their areas with milita.

While I am a student of history, the history of occupations and the like is rather narrow and while I can't knock this down, I can't agree without more insight.

44 posted on 11/09/2006 4:10:16 AM PST by KC Burke (Men of intemperate minds can never be free...their passions forge their fetters.)
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To: saveliberty

Restructuring the military was precisely the reason why he was hired. After Clinton eviscerated the military, it was believed that a top-down examination and subsequent restructuring was necessary. He did the same job after Vietnam. And that is precisely why Bush hired him.


45 posted on 11/09/2006 4:16:34 AM PST by Pan_Yans Wife
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To: chief911
when it could have at least blunted some of the Dem anti-war election effort

No, it wouldn't blunt a thing. When has an admission of a mistake or an apology EVER satisfied the libs? NEVER! The would have tripled their effort, crowing that "they were right" and that Bush was admitting failure ... it is super easy to imaging the never-ending news stories that would have come out. Then there would be the confirmation hearings for his replacement that would have turned into a show trial that dragged on for a month or so. All of the truth that came out in those hearings would not make the evening news, only the Chuckie Schumer sound bites along with the usual suspects. The Peace Mom too. We'd STILL be heating it.

Appeasement NEVER works. EVER!

46 posted on 11/09/2006 4:27:57 AM PST by NonValueAdded (Prayers for our patriot brother, 68-69TonkinGulfYachtClub. Brian, we're all pulling for you!)
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To: Sprite518

You obviously do not know Rummy. He is not like the beltway diseased asses... err masses.

LLS


47 posted on 11/09/2006 4:29:34 AM PST by LibLieSlayer (Preserve America... kill terrorists... destroy dims!)
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To: tonycavanagh
Military Times the Army Times, Navy Times, Air Force Times, and Marine Corps Times, November 4, 2006,:

Those publications are run by corporations and people who probably hate our military more than love it. They are not publications put out by our military.

48 posted on 11/09/2006 4:33:08 AM PST by Moonman62 (The issue of whether cheap labor makes America great should have been settled by the Civil War.)
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To: tonycavanagh
While our military may not be perfect, let's not forget that the Middle East remains a festering puss sore, because of the screwups of British colonialism.
49 posted on 11/09/2006 4:35:33 AM PST by Moonman62 (The issue of whether cheap labor makes America great should have been settled by the Civil War.)
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To: tonycavanagh

I had TWO MARINE OFFICERS in my business yesterday. Both have done duty in Iraq and Afghanistan (one is going back to Afghanistan in January). We talked about Rummy leaving, and both said he will be missed. They said he was disliked in the Pentagon becasue he was he FIRST (and LONGEST serving) SoD that the Generals in the Pentagon could not break. They had insight into why some didn't like him, but they never accused Rummy of what you state.

LLS


50 posted on 11/09/2006 4:36:32 AM PST by LibLieSlayer (Preserve America... kill terrorists... destroy dims!)
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To: Pan_Yans Wife

I agree.


51 posted on 11/09/2006 4:38:45 AM PST by saveliberty (If pro is the opposite of con, what is the opposite of progress?)
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To: John Carey
I think Rummy's resignation has been in the works ever since his last trip to Capitol Hill. The same trip when after being interrogated by Hillary, Rummy's first words were "Good Grief!". Since you can't find a high caliber Secretary of Defense overnight, it has taken this long for it all to happen. The timing is not a coincidence, just part of a plan.
52 posted on 11/09/2006 4:40:28 AM PST by Dixie Yooper (Ephesians 6:11)
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To: tonycavanagh
I don't want to debate your points, as it sounds like you know what you're talking about. However, I am interested in the details, as I have not heard them before. Thanks in advance for your time.

Carolyn

53 posted on 11/09/2006 4:46:54 AM PST by CDHart ("It's too late to work within the system and too early to shoot the b@#$%^&s."--Claire Wolfe)
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To: tonycavanagh

I've yet to meet a person who has lost faith in Rumsfeld. You paint with too broad of a brush. Claiming that non-military cannot make an informed decision does not paint you in a good light. Such snobbery does not show you in a good light.

For here, our military is mostly comprised of non-officers, who know the mood of the people and can read the tea-leaves much better than from someone across the pond who does not hold the stars and stripes in high asteem. It is my nation's military that I hold faith in. Pundits and politicians do not hold the pulse of the nation.

You talk about Rumsfeld not planning. Are you aware that the Pentagon and the CIA have contingency plans for military movements involving every corner of the planet? They don't just make up a plan out of whole cloth. There are always years of background information, current statistical analysis and intelligence available at a moment's notice. It is often said that the Pentagon readily has access with the plans necessary to invade CANADA.

It is this type of preparation that helps keep rogue states guessing. Do you think the Pentagon wrote up plans for Iraq in the two months leading up to it? Do you doubt that Iran KNOWS we have the necessary options on the books and could strike at a moments' notice?


54 posted on 11/09/2006 4:48:22 AM PST by Pan_Yans Wife
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To: John Carey

Rummy and Cheney are the best. If W is looking for someone to blame, he needs to be looking at why he lost the election, who his advisors were there. Getting rid of the best does more damage. Losing confidence in this administration more and more. Stay the course, fix what needs fixing, leave the rest alone.


55 posted on 11/09/2006 4:53:40 AM PST by trustandobey
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To: tonycavanagh
Don’t like the message, it must be wrong.

Par for the course around here.

Did we have a phase 4 plan yes or no

A good question, but falling on deaf ears. Most people here don't know what that is, or what the significance of that would be. And, no, we didn't have a good phase IV plan. Just some etherial, PowerPoint bullet concepts of how things should be.

56 posted on 11/09/2006 5:02:51 AM PST by Steel Wolf (As Ibn Warraq said, "There are moderate Muslims but there is no moderate Islam.")
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To: CheyennePress

Balderdash.


57 posted on 11/09/2006 5:10:41 AM PST by Les_Miserables
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To: Proud_texan
You get an A+ for loyalty to our side, PT, but you weren't there, and you don't know what you're talking about.

I think we immediately went into nation building mode without first killing the enemy.

Sounds logical, but it's not. In Spring of 2003, who was the enemy? The Iraq army? No, they were defeated and disbanded. The Ba'athists? No, they were in hiding. There was no meaningful resistance from them, they were on the run. The islamists? Again, they didn't rear their heads for months.

The enemy we're fighting now didn't exist in any meaningful way in mid 2003. If you remember, at that time the U.S. military was viewed by Iraqis as an invincible force. They had all kinds of theories as to why that was. They thought our Oakleys were X-Ray goggles. They thought our armor was air conditioned. They thought our spy satellites could track every one of them at all times. Iraq in mid 2003 was as beaten as can be, and the violence was both negligable and unorganized.

After months of sitting around, we couldn't keep the lights on, or the water running, or the streets safe, and people began to wonder what was going on. Either we weren't there to help them, they figured, or we weren't invincible at all. That's when they began to believe that their army had been bribed, and that we were paper tigers who's only solution to fighting was to throw money at our enemies. That gave rise to opponents who couldn't be bought off. Once they realized that they had the will to win, whereas we were an army of lions led by lambs, it was over.

I don't know who's call that was. I can opine, based on what they say, that is probably wasn't Rumsfeld and Cheney that made that call. It feels more like State Department handwringers got to the president on that one.

Because they were intimidated by guys in the State department? Are you serious? You think that Rumsfeld and Cheney went storming into the Oval Office, saying that if al-Sadr is allowed to live, and the Sunni insurgency isn't nipped in the bud, Iraq is doomed, but the State Department cowed President Bush into submission?

58 posted on 11/09/2006 5:17:24 AM PST by Steel Wolf (As Ibn Warraq said, "There are moderate Muslims but there is no moderate Islam.")
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To: chief911

Got it.

Cursor down. Gates worked with Baker on a study to make recommendations about Iraq. This gives Rummy two months to escape the criticism.

I am with the Vice President. Rummy was excellent and should have been encouraged to stay. Gates was not an inspired choice. Iran Contra is back. :-(

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,228173,00.html


59 posted on 11/09/2006 5:18:40 AM PST by saveliberty (If pro is the opposite of con, what is the opposite of progress?)
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To: tonycavanagh

Well if you are so damn smart why are you not running the war?

I have read a few comments from some like you but thank the Lord you are a small number.


60 posted on 11/09/2006 5:40:14 AM PST by buck61
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