Single What? Female...

rummy and the resignation...

Rumsfeld tried to resign TWICE and now that there are up to five retired generals who are speaking out, as well many other anonymous officers made a little braver by these generals, Rummy has no intention of resigning.

I'm not sure what the kicker was, but something FINALLY got to these men and they are speaking out about the "arrogance" and "tactical errors" and "abusive" nature of the Secretary of Defense and his office.

Allow me to steal directly from the email my friend Fred sent about this issue, taking quotes he'd found in various articles from the aforementioned generals:

Maj. Gen. Charles Swannack (commander of 82nd Airborne Division during its mission in Iraq): "Specifically, I feel he has micromanaged the generals who are leading our forces there,
And I believe he has culpability associated with the Abu Ghraib prison scandal and, so, rather than admitting these mistakes, he continually justifies them to the press ... and that really disallows him from moving our strategy forward."

Maj. Gen. John Batiste, (commander 1st Infantry Division in northern Iraq in 2004-2005): "When decisions are made without taking into account sound military recommendations, sound military decision-making, sound planning, then we're bound to make mistakes. When we violate the principles of war with mass and unity of command and unity of effort, we do that at our own peril." "He went to war with a flawed plan. He didn't
account for the hard work to build the peace after we took down the regime. We served under a secretary of defense who didn't understand leadership, who was abusive, who was arrogant, who didn't build a strong team."
- "You know, it speaks volumes that guys like me are speaking out from retirement about the leadership climate in the Department of Defense."

General Anthony Zinni (Marines, U.S. Central Command chief 2001-2003):
"Rumsfeld essentially...threw away 10 years worth of planning." Those plans "had taken into account what we would face in an occupation of Iraq," Zinni said. "We grow up in a culture where accountability, learning to accept responsibility, admitting mistakes and learning from them was critical to us," Zinni said. "When we don't see that happening it worries us. Poor military judgment has been used throughout this mission."

Army Maj. Gen. Paul Eaton (head of training Iraqi forces in 2003-2004):
"Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld is not competent to lead America's armed forces. First, his failure to build coalitions with U.S. allies from what he dismissively called 'old Europe' has imposed far greater demands and risks on American soldiers in Iraq than necessary. Second, he alienated his allies in the U.S. military, ignoring the advice of seasoned officers and denying subordinates any chance for input." -
"Rumsfeld has put the Pentagon at the mercy of his ego, his Cold Warrior's view of the world and his unrealistic confidence in technology to replace manpower. As a result, the U.S. Army finds itself severely undermanned - cut to 10 active divisions but asked by the administration to support a
foreign policy that requires at least 12 or 14."

[Full article here:
http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/03/19/opinion/edeaton.php]

Marine Corps Lt. Gen. Gregory Newbold (former director of operations at the Pentagon's military joint staff): "I am driven to action now by the missteps and misjudgments of the White House and the Pentagon, and by my many painful visits to our military hospitals. In those places, I have been both inspired and shaken by the broken bodies but unbroken spirits of soldiers, Marines and corpsmen returning from this war. The cost of flawed leadership continues to be paid in blood." - "Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's recent statement that 'we' made the 'right
strategic decisions' but made thousands of 'tactical errors' is an outrage. It reflects an effort to obscure gross errors in strategy by shifting the blame for failure to those who have been resolute in fighting. The truth is, our forces are successful in spite of the strategic guidance they receive, not because of it."

[Full article here:
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1181629,00.html]

Maj Gen John Riggs (served in the army for 39 years and became a
three-star general): said it was time for Mr Rumsfeld to go because he fostered an atmosphere of "arrogance" among the Pentagon's top civilian leadership. "They only need the military advice when it satisfies their agenda. I think that's a mistake, and that's why I think he should resign,"

Katie Couric this morning on the Today show asked one of these generals, Major General John Baptiste, about why they weren't going after the Commander-In-Chief as well, and he replied "I don't know the President, but I do know what I've been dealing with with the Department of Defense"...I'll also bet he's worried about even harsher repercussions from the higher ups.

In an article written last year by Seymour Hersch, many officers spoke to him about how poorly things were planned and were running in Iraq, but none would speak on the record without a promise of anonymity as it was generally felt that if they spoke up, they could lose their jobs. While I feel it would have been nice if these gentlemen could have spoken up some years ago about their issues with the way the war was being run, jobs be darned (do you really want to work for this kind of adminsitration?), one cannot ignore the claims that even those that did complain had their complaints shot down; and with this administration's industrial spin machine who's to say how much would have really gotten out there. It's amazing that these men's declarations are getting out there now...but then again, there is more dissent than ever with the American people and it appears the press feel that they are allowed at last to share (and search for) such findings, defying the "closed door" policy and secrecy of the White House. There's not a lot of good news coming out these days and I am sure George must be ever more "tempermental", sulking in the Oval Office.

And I say, go ahead, keep him cranky. Let him know that you are PAYING ATTENTION and do not care for the way he's been doing things and that he just CAN'T DO THIS ANYMORE!!!

Email, call, write, fax, your friends and family, the press AND YOUR CONGRESSFOLK. They are listening but need to keep hearing what YOU have to say. Let them know you want a CHANGE in 2006! You want a Democratic Congress. You want censure for the president. You want the truth in your newspaper and broadcast media. And that's just to start...

Peace --Alex

and I'm just going to note that as I type this, Bruce Springsteen's version of "We Shall Overcome" is on the radio...

and last night, I saw Fidelio over at the Metropolitan Opera. It's Beethoven circa 1803, but one couldn't help but notice the line from the villain about how he has to kill the heroine's husband because "if the governor knew that we were holding people here without charges it would be the end of me..." (BY THE WAY...YEA! TERESA who made her Met debut as a member of the chorus!)

posted by funkweee @ 9:01 AM