XDA

R,

W/ all due respect, your admiration is misplaced. The generals are pros. Much more so than the secretary.

If I have a medical situation, Itend to listen to the doctors, not the hospital administrator.

T
 

Wow Roger, a fan of the SecDef. You are indeed a rare bird. My guess would be that if non-retired commanders were given permission to speak freely, there would be many more Generals critical of Rumsfeld's handling of the Iraq War.

Rumsfeld, the guy that said that since the U.N. inspectors haven't found any WMDs, it could be proof that they are hiding them.
 

Tony, I can't see connection. General does not equal doctor to SecDef does not equal hospital administrator (Have you been watching House again?)
Andy Rush, the gist of the criticism seems to be a lack of respect from Rumsfeld for the genius of the Generals (unless I'm reading their criticism wrong) so you are probably correct to say that un-gaging the current Generals would produce similar complaints. And yes, S, I'm including Powell (Hitchens calls him the most mediocre man in America) Dom has nothing good to say about him.
Mr. Rush, what happens to your world view if Iraq's WMD are in fact in Syria? Does it fall apart or do you soldier on in you beliefs? Perhaps we'll never face this question in reality.
 

R,

Of course I am watching House. Curse those lefties on NPR. They aired another piece on a retired general, Riggs--sorry General, I forgot your first name--who thinks that Mr. Rumsfeld should resign. Just to be fair and balanced, NPR aired a commentary by someone from the Lexington Institute, whose name I also forget, who thinks that Mr Rumsfeld, even if his afflicted by a mild case of hubris, should not resign.

Roger, if you do not get the connection you are being deliberately obtuse.

Mr. Rumsfeld primary problem is that of all ideologues. Someehow, I think that if all of these professional soldiers think the SecDef has not acted in our country's best interest, perhaps we should listen. Better yet, perhaps he should listen.
 

Evidence. Logic. These were two of the many components missing during the leadup to invasion. WMD in Syria? Possible, but not very likely. Will it turn my world view upside down - hardly. Listen, WMD is NOT the main reason we went into Iraq. It was the "pitch", the only way we could get Americans to agree that we should do it. I'm convinced that the President wanted regime change, something not good enough, in and of itself, to sell the American people. Did Saddam have WMD prior to invasion? The evidence, or lack thereof, doesn't support it. Saddam was desperate to make people think he did, so he was purposefully uncooperative. Logic was not in abundance in the Bush administration in the run-up to war. They based their case mainly on hearsay (now known as bad intel) regarding WMD and weren't critical when weapons inspectors came up with zip. Now those same people they listened to are saying that weapons were shipped to Syria. I say, in my best John Stossel voice, give me a break. I have to conclude that something else was driving their pursuit of war. We would never have gone to war if regime change were the main argument. And while I wholeheartedly agree that Saddam being out of power is a good thing, the piece of the puzzle that was left out was the vacuum that is now left behind. That sucking sound you hear is the insurgency, and it was the single biggest mistake that the war planners made. Not having enough boots on the ground. And it should have got Donald Rumsfeld fired.
 

Andy Rush, you and I agree that WMD was the selling point to the UN and thatSaddam out is a good thing. The rest I didn't follow that well, probably my fault.
Tony, there is no pancake so thin that it doesn't have two sides. There are Rumsfeld supporters and Rumsfeld detractors. I listen to his critics but they haven't convinced me yet. No news there.
 

It's the media's fault.
 

It's not the media's fault. It's Bill Clinton's fault, or maybe even Hillary's.

The retired generals who are critcal of Mr. Rumsfeld are not necessarily, if at all, critical of the war itself.

Roger, a Mobius pancake has only one side.(Quoting Osric again are we?)

Perhaps my most cynical thought ever is that this administration, being installed in the way it was, propogated the war for political purposes so as to give itself the best chance for reelection.