It's Time For Rumsfeld to go.
Nov. 4th, 2006 10:44 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
icarusAn article "Time for Rumsfeld to Go" is scheduled for simultaneous publication Monday by the Army Times, Air Force Times, Navy Times and Marine Corps Times.
WG's been saying this all along. Rumsfeld's the one who, in 2003, said Iraq would be "a cakewalk," and got rid of Gen. Eric Shinseki, the Army chief of staff, who told Congress the facts: that holding that much territory would require "several hundred thousand troops." Rumsfeld wanted to go in "fast and light" with only 40,000 troops.
Rumsfeld is responsible for the decision to unarmored Humvees in Iraq instead of the U.S. armored personnel carriers that were stored in Kuwait. This has resulted in thousands of troops being maimed by IEDs.
Last April, a widening circle of retired generals called for Rumsfeld's resignation. One stepped forward, and then another, and another. This included generals who served under Rumsfeld in Iraq.
Absolutely.
"His strategy has failed, and his ability to lead is compromised," the editorial said. "And although the blame for our failures in Iraq rests with the secretary, it will be the troops who bear its brunt."
WG's been saying this all along. Rumsfeld's the one who, in 2003, said Iraq would be "a cakewalk," and got rid of Gen. Eric Shinseki, the Army chief of staff, who told Congress the facts: that holding that much territory would require "several hundred thousand troops." Rumsfeld wanted to go in "fast and light" with only 40,000 troops.
Rumsfeld is responsible for the decision to unarmored Humvees in Iraq instead of the U.S. armored personnel carriers that were stored in Kuwait. This has resulted in thousands of troops being maimed by IEDs.
Last April, a widening circle of retired generals called for Rumsfeld's resignation. One stepped forward, and then another, and another. This included generals who served under Rumsfeld in Iraq.
Maj. Gen. Charles H. Swannack Jr., who led troops on the ground in Iraq as recently as 2004 as the commander of the Army's 82nd Airborne Division, on Thursday became the fifth retired senior general in recent days to call publicly for Mr. Rumsfeld's ouster. Also Thursday, another retired Army general, Maj. Gen. John Riggs, joined in the fray.
"We need to continue to fight the global war on terror and keep it off our shores," General Swannack said in a telephone interview. "But I do not believe Secretary Rumsfeld is the right person to fight that war based on his absolute failures in managing the war against Saddam in Iraq."
Absolutely.
