If President Bush were to retire Defense Sec. Donald Rumsfeld, would Rummy’s replacement be any better? Whoever is there is going to have to deal with Vice President Cheney.
Still, the Ostroy Report lays out a convincing bill of particulars against the two-time Secretary of Defense:
Rumsfeld is an arrogant, bullying micromanager who grossly miscalculated strategy in Iraq while ignoring and/or discounting the advice of the military commanders on the ground. Even one of his staunchest supporters, retired Marine Lt. Gen. Michael DeLong, in a NY Times op-ed Sunday, admitted Rumsfeld is a micromanager who wanted to be involved in all decisions. As such, several of his strategic decisions have come under intense scrutiny from the generals. First, Rummy’s “modern war” premise grossly underestimated the level of troops needed despite strong opposition from Gen. Eric Shinseki, who was later booted from his post for stating that hundreds of thousands of soldiers were needed to maintain order post-invasion. Furthermore, it was Rumsfeld who decided to cancel the deployment of the First Cavalry Division, which would’ve bolstered the initial invasion force and helped stave off the mounting insurgency. And perhaps the biggest blunder was Rumsfeld’s unilateral decision to dissolve the Iraqi military without consulting the Joint Chiefs.
They made the point on ABC’s This Week today that changing personnel without changing policy is meaningless.
They can’t fire rummy, he is one of the criminal lying liars — they hang together or they hang apart.
The underlying message of what the generals are saying is we need a change in policy. Bush gave us his answer on Friday. Rummy and his policies stay.
Let’s get on with electing a congress that will take it’s oversight responsibilities seriously.