Rumsfeld should resign.Byline: The Register-Guard It's tempting to assert that there's no problem with the Department of Defense that couldn't be solved by naming a new secretary, but nothing would be more naive than to think one person could ever fix everything that's wrong with such an entrenched en·trench also in·trench v. en·trenched, en·trench·ing, en·trench·es v.tr. 1. To provide with a trench, especially for the purpose of fortifying or defending. 2. and gargantuan gar·gan·tu·an adj. Of immense size, volume, or capacity; gigantic. See Synonyms at enormous. gargantuan Adjective huge or enormous [after Gargantua, a giant in Rabelais' bureaucracy. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld should resign for the opposite reason - because of how much damage one person can do to the credibility of such an important organization at a time when American troops are being killed and wounded in combat. Quite simply, Rumsfeld has lost the support and confidence of his most important employees, the generals and senior officers who lead U.S. troops in the field. The list of Rumsfeld critics grows almost daily and includes retired generals with recent combat experience on the ground in Iraq: Maj. Gen. Charles Swannack Jr., commander of the Army's 82nd Airborne Division; Army Maj. Gen. John Batiste Major General John Batiste (* ca. 1953[1]) is a retired officer of the United States Army.[2] From March 2001 to June 2002 he worked with Paul Wolfowitz, and was involved in the very early planning stages of the Iraq war. , who led the First Infantry Division in Iraq; Army Maj. Gen. John Riggs
The United States Central Command (CENTCOM) is a theater-level Unified Combatant Command unit of the U.S. armed forces, established in 1983 under the operational control of the U. in the 1990s. These aren't anti-war voices. They are career officers who are generally supportive of the decision to invade Iraq. But common to all their complaints has been an assertion that Rumsfeld and his closest aides often disregarded advice from military commanders, overriding their recommendations on strategy and troop levels. President Bush on Friday flatly rejected calls for Rumsfeld's resignation, which isn't surprising. The president who is incapable of recalling a mistake is perfectly comfortable with a defense secretary who has no idea what Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice means when she says there have been numerous tactical errors made in Iraq. |
|
||||||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion