Wayne Besen - Author, Activist, Columnist, Public Speaker

Thursday, April 13, 2006

(Donald Rumsfeld)

Several powerful military officials are in an open revolt against Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and are even calling on him to step down. They say that Rumsfeld is arrogant, incompetent and does not listen to the men in the field. The latest salvo comes from retired Army Maj. Gen. John Batiste.

"I think we need a fresh start" at the top of the Pentagon, said Batiste, who commanded the 1st Infantry Division in Iraq in 2004-2005, said in an interview. "We need leadership up there that respects the military as they expect the military to respect them. And that leadership needs to understand teamwork."

Batiste is not the first military heavyweight to call for Rumsfeld's head on a platter.

"We won't get fooled again," retired Marine Lt. Gen. Gregory Newbold, who held the key post of director of operations on the staff of the Joint Chiefs of Staff from 2000 to 2002, wrote in an essay in Time magazine this week. Listing a series of mistakes such as "McNamara-like micromanagement," a reference to the Vietnam War-era secretary of defense, Newbold called for "replacing Rumsfeld and many others unwilling to fundamentally change their approach."

Last month, another top officer who served in Iraq, retired Army Maj. Gen. Paul Eaton, wrote an opinion piece for the New York Times in which he called Rumsfeld "incompetent strategically, operationally and tactically." Eaton, who oversaw the training of Iraqi army troops in 2003-2004, said that "Mr. Rumsfeld must step down."

Also, retired Marine Gen. Anthony Zinni, a longtime critic of Rumsfeld and the administration's handling of the Iraq war, has been more vocal lately as he publicizes a new book, "The Battle for Peace."

"The problem is that we've wasted three years" in Iraq, said Zinni, who was the chief of the U.S. Central Command, which oversees Iraq and the rest of the Middle East, in the late 1990s. He added that he "absolutely" thinks Rumsfeld should resign.

It turns out, that Rumsfeld is as popular with the military, as Cheney is at a Washington Nationals baseball game. America knows that he did not use enough troops to secure Iraq and never listened to critics who warned him that more soldiers were needed if we were to succeed at creating a democracy in the heart of the Middle East.

3 Comments:

If you think it's bad now, wait until these assholes start bombing iran---especially if they use nuclear bunkerbusters--which they're just chomping at the bit to do. I urge everyone to read the Seymour Hirsh article in the current issue of New Yorker magazine. Your hair will stand on end.
B. Queer
posted by Anonymous, at 4/13/2006 1:55 PM

anonymous,

Is this the article you're tallking about? 'cause it isn't current. Do you have a link to a MORE current article by HERSH?--

"The Coming Wars:
What the Pentagon Can Now Do in Secret"
By Seymour M. Hersh
The New Yorker
24-31 January 2005 Issue
posted by Anonymous, at 4/13/2006 4:21 PM

Apparently, many of these generals slamming Rumsfeld are Clinton-era appointees.

That by itself shouldn't disqualify them from speaking their view loudly...however, these same generals apparently were also singing a different tune (i.e. "We need to stop Saddam by force") once upon a time.
posted by Anonymous, at 4/14/2006 12:32 PM