| Author | Message | ||
     themp Citizen Username: Themp Post Number: 1292 Registered: 12-2001 |
Schwarzkopf, interviewed on MSNBC-TV’s “Hardball,” chided Rumsfeld for his reply to a soldier in Kuwait over the lack of armor on many military vehicles used in Iraq. “I was very, very disappointed — no, let me put it stronger — I was angry by the words of the secretary of defense when he laid it all on the Army, as if he, as the secretary of defense, didn’t have anything to do with the Army and the Army was over there doing it themselves, screwing up,” Schwarzkopf said. Schwarzkopf, a registered independent who campaigned for Bush in the last two presidential elections, has previously criticized Rumsfeld on several occasions as arrogant and out of touch with troops on the ground. Monday, Schwarzkopf said the Defense Department had badly misjudged the situation in Iraq. Reserve forces were rushed into urban combat — “toughest kind of fighting” — without adequate training, and “things have gone awry.” “In the final analysis, I think we are behind schedule” in Iraq, Schwarzkopf said. “... I don’t think we counted on it turning into jihad.” The public pounding may have taken a toll on public confidence in Rumsfeld. A new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll, conducted Thursday through Monday, found that public approval of Rumsfeld, already fairly low, had fallen to 34 percent from 39 percent in May. | ||
| Dave Moderator Username: Dave Post Number: 4692 Registered: 4-1998  |
We go to war with the Secretary of Defense we have, not the capable one we'd like to have. | ||
| bobk Supporter Username: Bobk Post Number: 7021 Registered: 5-2001 |
Add William Kristol to the growing list of critics of Secretary Rumsfeld. Mr. Kristol is editor of the Weekly Standard, a very conservative publication, and is a strong supporter of the Iraq war. http://www.weeklystandard.com/ | ||
| Chris Prenovost Citizen Username: Chris_prenovost Post Number: 151 Registered: 7-2003 |
President Bush seems to be surrounding himself with people whose first qualifications are unquestioning loyalty and a stubborn refusal to face any inconvenient facts. Tell the President what he wants to hear, and your job is secure. Which would go a long way to explain why Tenet kept his job for so long. And why Rummy will probably keep his, unless these issues make it poltically expedient for Bush to get rid of him. | ||
| notehead Citizen Username: Notehead Post Number: 1808 Registered: 5-2001  |
I predict: Rummy will not keep his job through the next 4 years. | ||
| Addy Citizen Username: Addy Post Number: 326 Registered: 12-2003  |
McCain will get it. | ||
| themp Citizen Username: Themp Post Number: 1294 Registered: 12-2001 |
From Krystol: ""It's interesting." In fact, "if you think about it, you can have all the armor in the world on a tank and a tank can be blown up. And you can have an up-armored humvee and it can be blown up." Good point. Why have armor at all? Incidentally, can you imagine if John Kerry had made such a statement a couple of months ago? It would have been (rightly) a topic of scorn and derision among my fellow conservatives, and not just among conservatives." | ||
| themp Citizen Username: Themp Post Number: 1295 Registered: 12-2001 |
"I mean, everyone likes to assign responsibility to the top person and I guess that's fine." Donald Rumsfeld, reluctant leader | ||
| Robert Livingston Citizen Username: Rob_livingston Post Number: 599 Registered: 7-2004 |
Rummy is helping sink Bush, and fast, because he is placing Bush in a lose-lose scenerio. If Rummy stays on, the criticism will intensify, as it has been, even from outspoken voices on the right (like above...) If Rummy is let go, that is tantamount to Bush admitting a mistake, which in Bush's book is worse than death. Rumsfeld with have to pull a Tenet and "resign" to "spend more time with his family..." | ||
| Michael Janay Citizen Username: Childprotect Post Number: 1392 Registered: 1-2003  |
Rummy isn't going anywhere. Anyone want to bet on it? | ||
| Joe Citizen Username: Gonets Post Number: 549 Registered: 2-2004 |
Michael, I think you're right. In this administration, the most incompetent have proven to be the most resillient. | ||
| Rastro Citizen Username: Rastro Post Number: 507 Registered: 5-2004  |
Back to the subject at hand... Army spending $4.1B to rush armored vehicles to Iraq "A week after a soldier told Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld that troops were scrounging for scrap metal for do-it-yourself armor plating, the Army said Wednesday that it is spending $4.1 billion to armor all military wheeled vehicles in Iraq by June." http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&u=/usatoday/20041216/ts_usatoday/ar myspending41btorusharmoredvehiclestoiraq | ||
| themp Citizen Username: Themp Post Number: 1297 Registered: 12-2001 |
Lott: Replace defense chief By MELISSA M. SCALLAN BILOXI - U.S. Sen. Trent Lott doesn't believe Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld should resign immediately, but he does think Rumsfeld should be replaced sometime in the next year. "I'm not a fan of Secretary Rumsfeld," Lott, R-Mississippi, told the Biloxi Chamber of Commerce on Wednesday morning. "I don't think he listens enough to his uniformed officers." Rumsfeld has been criticized since a soldier asked him last week why the combat vehicles used in the war in Iraq don't have the proper armor. Both Rumsfeld and President Bush have said more vehicle armor will be shipped to Iraq. Lott said the United States needs more troops to help with the war. The country also needs a plan to leave Iraq once elections are over at the end of January. Lott doesn't think Rumsfeld is necessarily the person to carry out that plan. "I would like to see a change in that slot in the next year or so," Lott said. "I'm not calling for his resignation, but I think we do need a change at some point." On another military issue, Lott said he hopes the Base Realignment and Closure Commission will consider closing bases overseas rather than in the United States. "I think we're looking at closures at home before looking at other parts of the world," he said. Keesler Air Force Base and the Seabee Base in Gulfport most likely will be spared, Lott said, but Naval Station Pascagoula could be affected. | ||
| Robert Livingston Citizen Username: Rob_livingston Post Number: 606 Registered: 7-2004 |
Rummy's going down, and he's going down hard. Rumsfeld's War Imagination, transformation, and reality in Iraq. by Tom Donnelly, the Daily Standard "Even longtime supporters and transformation advocates have begun to recognize that Rumsfeld is now a large part of the problem. Loren Thompson, head of the Lexington Institute, a defense think-tank long supportive of the secretary, told the Washington Post on Monday that Rumsfeld won't face reality: "He knows what the situation is, but he has been unready to change his plans." " | ||
| notehead Citizen Username: Notehead Post Number: 1812 Registered: 5-2001 |
"Unready." Oh, man, what a great word. To put it another way, he's an obstinate, callous jerk with no capacity for candor. | ||
| Joe Citizen Username: Gonets Post Number: 552 Registered: 2-2004 |
You think about it, this guy should have been run out of Washington during the 1st Gulf War. After all he had a hand in nurturing this monster was Sadam. I don't understand why his support of Sadam during the Reagan administration was merely a footnote. | ||
| Dave Moderator Username: Dave Post Number: 4717 Registered: 4-1998 |
It's pretty scary we have the Ford administration people running the show. | ||
| Joe Citizen Username: Gonets Post Number: 553 Registered: 2-2004 |
Don't Rummy and Cheney go back to Nixon? If only people didn't raise a stink about Kissinger heading the 9/11 commission, Bush could have hit the trifecta. | ||
| Straw's world Citizen Username: Strawberry Post Number: 4145 Registered: 10-2001 |
"It's pretty scary we have the Ford administration people running the show." Hey, it's not like it's the Carter people. Those folks were real meatheads. (as are most libs) | ||
| Dave Moderator Username: Dave Post Number: 4722 Registered: 4-1998 |
Point taken, but at least Carter beat someone for the job. |
