NATO's top commander: Iraq a debacle; criticizes Rumsfeld

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Former Marine Corps Chief Cites Concerns

By ANNE PLUMMER FLAHERTY
The Associated Press
Wednesday, October 4, 2006; 6:04 PM

WASHINGTON -- Gen. James L. Jones, once the Marine Corps' top general, did not deny reports in a new book that he told a colleague Iraq was a debacle and that Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld had emasculated the service chiefs.

But Jones, NATO's top commander and headed toward retirement, said Wednesday he will not join the ranks of other retired military officers who say Rumsfeld should be ousted. Rumsfeld has been under fire by critics, including several former generals, who say he has run roughshod over the Pentagon's uniformed leadership.

"I do not in any way associate myself with ... that particular group, and will not associate myself in my retired life," Jones said at an event sponsored by the Council on Foreign Relations.

Jones is known within military circles for speaking frankly and having an aversion to the Pentagon bureaucracy. As Marine Corps commandant for more than three years until January 2003, Jones was responsible for preparing Marines for combat and advising the defense secretary as a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

In Bob Woodward's book "State of Denial," Jones is quoted as telling Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, in a 2005 meeting: "You're going to face a debacle and be part of the debacle in Iraq." Jones also warned Pace that the Joint Chiefs of Staff had been "systematically emasculated by Rumsfeld," according to the book.

Jones confirmed that he expressed to Pace that the "strategic consequences of failure" in Iraq are "very serious."

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Soldiers saddled with incompatible kit, NATO says

By Tim Hepher Tue Oct 3, 12:03 PM ET

PARIS (Reuters) - NATO planners gave a withering assessment of the West's defense arsenal on Tuesday, saying their forces are sometimes unable to talk to each other on the ground because costly defense systems are not compatible.

Problems in getting state-of-the art equipment from rival manufacturers to link up are making it harder for forces of different countries and even units within the U.S. military to co-ordinate -- and costing taxpayers millions to sort out.

In some cases, the crossed-wires in communications only come to light when defense gear is being used for the first time in exercises or even battle zones, defense industry chiefs heard at an annual conference between NATO and its arms suppliers.

"We are all taxpayers and all taxpayers would shoot most of us if they realized how much money is being spent in trying to get systems to talk to each other after the fact," U.S. Air Force General Lance Smith, NATO's Supreme Allied Commander Transformation, told delegates

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