retired maj.general in charge of training Iraqi military:Rummy, step down

[dajoki]

NYT
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/19/opinion/19eaton.html?_r=1&th&emc=th&oref=slogin

A Top-Down Review for the Pentagon

By PAUL D. EATON
Paul D. Eaton, a retired Army major general, was in charge of training the Iraqi military from 2003 to 2004.
Published: March 19, 2006
Fox Island, Wash.

DURING World War II, American soldiers en route to Britain before D-Day were given a pamphlet on how to behave while awaiting the invasion. The most important quote in it was this: "It is impolite to criticize your host; it is militarily stupid to criticize your allies."

By that rule, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld is not competent to lead our armed forces. First, his failure to build coalitions with our allies from what he dismissively called "old Europe" has imposed far greater demands and risks on our soldiers in Iraq than necessary. Second, he alienated his allies in our own military, ignoring the advice of seasoned officers and denying subordinates any chance for input.

In sum, he has shown himself incompetent strategically, operationally and tactically, and is far more than anyone else responsible for what has happened to our important mission in Iraq. Mr. Rumsfeld must step down.

In the five years Mr. Rumsfeld has presided over the Pentagon, I have seen a climate of groupthink become dominant and a growing reluctance by experienced military men and civilians to challenge the notions of the senior leadership.

[rodeodance]

1. love it Rummy step down

[dajoki]

2. yeah, go away...

maybe we can start a chorus.

[demosincebirth]

3. If Rum-dum was a CEO of a company, he would have been...

fired 3 months into the war.

[dajoki]

4. i don't think he would have got that far n/t

[existentialist]

5. While I am glad to read this letter, from this source

I respectfully disagree on two points.

First, I don't agree that Rumsfeld "is far more than anyone else responsible for what has happened in Iraq" because I believe that that distinction must go to Mr. Rumsfeld's boss, George W. Bush.

Second, while the description of the evolution of the thinking processes within Rumsfeld's Pentagon are, no doubt, accurate, they again mirror the processes within all other executive departments under Bush. Rumsfeld is very much a major part of this problem, and it might help somewhat if he would retire, but he is not the core of the problem, his boss is, and should he retire his boss is fully capable of filling the position with some other flunky equally uncomfortable with exercising, voicing, or tolerating independent thought.

[dajoki]

6. i have never seen...

an administration with so many incompetent cronies in key positions. so yes you are correct.