WHY THE TROOPS DON'T TRUST RUMMY

[MSgt213]

In Operation Iraqi Freedom, Rumsfeld and his apparatchiks boldly defended Washington while our troops fought overseas. Now that the battle's shifted to Capitol Hill in the wake of the Abu Ghraib scandal, the SecDef's in Iraq.

It's like all those press briefings in which he answers the questions when things are going well, but defers to those in uniform when things are going badly.

Should Rumsfeld resign over the prisoner abuse by rogue MPs? No. He should resign for the good of our military and our country. Those twisted photos are only one symptom of how badly the Rumsfeld era has derailed our military.

Rumsfeld has maintained a positive image with much of America because he controls information fanatically and tolerates no deviation from the party line. Differing opinions are punished in today's Pentagon - and every field general who has spoken plainly of the deficiencies of either the non-plan for the occupation of Iraq, the lack of sufficient troops (in Iraq or overall) or any aspect of Rumsfeld's "transformation" plan has seen his career ended.

It isn't treason to tell the truth in wartime. But it verges on treason to lie. And Rumsfeld lies.

http://www.nypost.com/postopinion/opedcolumnists/20841.htm

[aquart]

1. "Verges"? What "verges"?

He lies to us. He lies to Congress.

So how does everyone think the military vote is going to go?

[blm]

2. What's amazing is that this is in the NYPost. Is Murdoch loosening

his grip? Is he reading the writing on the wall that says Bush is losing in November?

[lovedems]

3. Isn't this rather significant coming from the NYP?

Aren't they usually a right leaning newspaper? If we violated the rules of the Geneva Convention, does that open anyone up to being tried for war crimes? If that was the case, would we be discussing that option right now or is it still to early to be discussing war crimes? i.e. do we need to get further into the investigations?

[orthogonal]

4. Ralph Peters

This was written by Ralph Peters (Lt. Col, ret.) and excellent novelist and the guy who in the same column in January, compared Howard Dean to Hitler and Dean's supporter's to Brownshirts.

In other words, Peters is no "lib'rul", no peacenik, and no Democrat. He does write novels which transcend the thriller genre they're usually stereotyped as -- his first, especially, Bravo Romeo, treats the Army at least as cynically as it does the rest of the world (and all his novels are well worth reading).

All of his novels show his vigorous respect for the integrity of the individual Army officer, and it is this that makes his indictment of Rumsfeld especially effective.

[lebkuchen]

5. It was the most damning piece on Rummy that I'd read

to date. Glad I saw it.