Cloudy Thinking » Blog Archive » Rumsfeld vs. the Generals

Rumsfeld vs. the Generals

The US military is starting to rumble. Several retired general officers who are safe from retaliation have spoken out, the latest being Army Maj. Gen. John Batiste.

[tease]

“I think we need a fresh start” at the top of the Pentagon, retired Army Maj. Gen. John 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 noted that many of his peers feel the same way. “It speaks volumes that guys like me are speaking out from retirement about the leadership climate in the Department of Defense,” he said earlier yesterday on CNN.

Don’t be confused. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld is a brilliant guy. He’s a witty, acerbic, hard charging dynamo. Without qualification, Rumsfeld is most talented and experienced senior manager in the US government today.

It is also time for Mr. Rumsfeld to step aside.

Rumsfeld must go because his time has passed. He helped design and execute Iraq War II. He supported what history will record as the most brilliantly executed invasion of all time. The drive to capture Baghdad was mind bogglingly fast, and in a narrow sense the invasion worked.

But Iraq War II is at an end. Sad to say, and with great respect to the brave military and civilians who paid the ultimate price, the Iraq war has simply failed. Iraq is mired in internecine sectarian infighting that may well lead to full on civil war.

The US may not be able to find a quick, graceful, face-saving way to exit Iraq. However, we are already planning to draw down troops and consolidate our forces in fewer locations.

Rumsfeld must step aside. Since President George W. Bush won’t ask him to resign, Donald should take the initiative and just do it. He can write his memoirs, and tell the story I’m sure we have not heard so far.

[see also: Reconcilable Differences]

This entry was posted on Thursday, April 13th, 2006 at 6:27 am and is filed under OpEd. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

http://www.themoderatevoice.com/posts/1144940935.shtml The Moderate Voice

Several Retired Generals Rebuke Rumsfeld

Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld is increasingly under fire — from retired generals who are criticizing the way he’s conducting the war in Ira…
http://www.warmroom.com/ Ray

He supported what history will record as the most brilliantly executed invasion of all time.

The reason “the Iraq war has simply failed” goes directly back to the stupidity and arrogance of the “brilliantly executed invasion.”

It’s easy to execute a brilliant invasion if you don’t bother to take along enough troops to secure the territory you move through and to protect the citizens and the infrastructure.

It’s easy to execute a brilliant invasion if you don’t bother to provide sufficient armor for the troops that you do take.

It’s easy to execute a brilliant invasion if you don’t bother to accurately explain the intelligence, motivations, costs and benefits of the invasion to the public you were sworn to serve and protect.

It’s easy to execute a brilliant invasion if you throw out the laws and scruples that have govern the last millenia of warfare.

Talk about winning the battle and losing the war.
http://blog.eronj.com Ron K. Jeffries

Thanks Ray. All are good points, and you may be surprised to know that I agree with several of your questions.

It is also my belief that Rumesfeld will go down as the guy who moved our military into a new era. He’s right about the need to change old, ingrained ideas. Unfortunately besides being brilliant and a great manager, he is also an arrogant person who apparently did not leverage the expertise of the professional military.

It will be fascinating when the books on Iraq War II start coming out. He will not be a totally evil bumbler, but history may judge that his hubris interferred with sucesffuly prosecuting a war (that histry will jude as being on balance a huge mistake).
Ron Buckley

You can call it a “brilliantly executed invasion” but when you have complete air superiority, night fighting ability, and a well trained and motivated force… it wasn’t really a fair fight. To me, Rumsfeld is just another McNamara, a brilliant technician who will execute any plan. I’ll look forward to his version of “The Fog of War”. The retired generals should really be pointing their angst at President Bush… the “Commander in Chief”, who is ultimately responsible for this debacle. Based on the demonstrated competency of this administration, one wonders if there is even a helicopter pad on the roof of American embassy in Baghdad.