Riding out the Rumsfeld Roulette
On January 20, 2001, the United States Senate's Republican majority whisked through a "quick voice vote" confirming several of newly-minted President George W. Bush's Cabinet appointments. Among those confirmed that day: Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld.
What a gamble. What a problem.
In a recent article for the International Herald Tribune, William Pfaff wrote of Rumsfeld as not "such a likable fellow" to the military as Bush. As Pfaff clearly points out, Rumsfeld has exploited and wasted the manpower of U.S. troops in Iraq -- for example, by assigning improperly trained troops to 'ride shotgun' for private contractors who outearn them severalfold -- without doing them any favors in return. Wire reports today indicate that the Army will be announcing plans to expand the "stop loss" order to prevent volunteer soldiers from leaving the military upon completing their overseas assignments. This intention indicates that the Army is likely experiencing a shortage of recruits. Wonder why?
Dissatisfaction with leadership is becoming alarmingly high, as even troops grill Secy. Rumsfeld in Iraq conferences. Maureen Dowd wrote tellingly of "Rummy's Lousy Answer to a Gutsy Question" in her 13 December 2004 column:
"Hoooo-rah! Rummy finally got called on the carpet. Not by the president, of course, but by troops fighting in Iraq. Some of them are finally fed up enough to rumble about his back-door draft and failure to provide them with the proper armor for their Humvees, leaving them scrambling to improvise with what they call 'hillbilly armor.'
"Rummy, however, did not hesitate to give the back of his hand to soldiers about to go risk their lives someplace he didn't dare to go.
"He treated Thomas Wilson -- the gutsy guardsman from Tennessee who asked why soldiers had 'to dig through local landfills for pieces of scrap metal and compromised ballistic glass to up-armor our vehicles, and why don't we have those resources readily available to us?' -- as if he were a pesky Pentagon reporter. The defense chief used the same coldly cantankerous tone and squint he displays in press briefings, an attitude that long ago wore thin. He did everything but slap the kid in the hospital bed.
"In one of his glib...maxims, Rummy told the soldier: 'As you know, you go to war with the army you have.'
"...Remember when the president promised in the campaign that the troops would have all the body armor they needed?"
Dowd asserts that it's "...immoral to trap our troops in a guerrilla war without essential, lifesaving support," and she is dead-on target. What kind of jerk does that?
The press, the troops, and now some leading Republicans are among Rumsfeld's discontents. After Rumsfeld's answer to Thomas Wilson, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz) commented on his feelings about the Secretary: "I said no. My answer is still no. No confidence." Retired General "Stormin'" Norman Schwarzkopf (not for nuthin', but ain't he from Trenton, NJ?) accused Rumsfeld of laying all the blame on the Army, "...as if he, the Secretary of Defense, didn't have anything to do with the Army and the Army was over there doing it themselves, screwing up."
Support. Verb transitive. To provide for or maintain, by supplying with money or the necessities of life.
This is what Rumsfeld needs to do for the troops.
Support. Verb transitive. To uphold or defend as valid or right.
This is what magnetic ribbons on cars appear to accomplish.
Support. Verb transitive. To promote the interests or cause of.
This is another thing these magnetic ribbons accomplish, but to whom are the magnets speaking? It's time to stop speaking truth to that guy driving behind you, and start speaking truth to power.
An XTerra makes a futile plea to the guy driving behind him.
What a gamble. What a problem.
In a recent article for the International Herald Tribune, William Pfaff wrote of Rumsfeld as not "such a likable fellow" to the military as Bush. As Pfaff clearly points out, Rumsfeld has exploited and wasted the manpower of U.S. troops in Iraq -- for example, by assigning improperly trained troops to 'ride shotgun' for private contractors who outearn them severalfold -- without doing them any favors in return. Wire reports today indicate that the Army will be announcing plans to expand the "stop loss" order to prevent volunteer soldiers from leaving the military upon completing their overseas assignments. This intention indicates that the Army is likely experiencing a shortage of recruits. Wonder why?
Dissatisfaction with leadership is becoming alarmingly high, as even troops grill Secy. Rumsfeld in Iraq conferences. Maureen Dowd wrote tellingly of "Rummy's Lousy Answer to a Gutsy Question" in her 13 December 2004 column:
"Hoooo-rah! Rummy finally got called on the carpet. Not by the president, of course, but by troops fighting in Iraq. Some of them are finally fed up enough to rumble about his back-door draft and failure to provide them with the proper armor for their Humvees, leaving them scrambling to improvise with what they call 'hillbilly armor.'
"Rummy, however, did not hesitate to give the back of his hand to soldiers about to go risk their lives someplace he didn't dare to go.
"He treated Thomas Wilson -- the gutsy guardsman from Tennessee who asked why soldiers had 'to dig through local landfills for pieces of scrap metal and compromised ballistic glass to up-armor our vehicles, and why don't we have those resources readily available to us?' -- as if he were a pesky Pentagon reporter. The defense chief used the same coldly cantankerous tone and squint he displays in press briefings, an attitude that long ago wore thin. He did everything but slap the kid in the hospital bed.
"In one of his glib...maxims, Rummy told the soldier: 'As you know, you go to war with the army you have.'
"...Remember when the president promised in the campaign that the troops would have all the body armor they needed?"
Dowd asserts that it's "...immoral to trap our troops in a guerrilla war without essential, lifesaving support," and she is dead-on target. What kind of jerk does that?
The press, the troops, and now some leading Republicans are among Rumsfeld's discontents. After Rumsfeld's answer to Thomas Wilson, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz) commented on his feelings about the Secretary: "I said no. My answer is still no. No confidence." Retired General "Stormin'" Norman Schwarzkopf (not for nuthin', but ain't he from Trenton, NJ?) accused Rumsfeld of laying all the blame on the Army, "...as if he, the Secretary of Defense, didn't have anything to do with the Army and the Army was over there doing it themselves, screwing up."
Support. Verb transitive. To provide for or maintain, by supplying with money or the necessities of life.
This is what Rumsfeld needs to do for the troops.
Support. Verb transitive. To uphold or defend as valid or right.
This is what magnetic ribbons on cars appear to accomplish.
Support. Verb transitive. To promote the interests or cause of.
This is another thing these magnetic ribbons accomplish, but to whom are the magnets speaking? It's time to stop speaking truth to that guy driving behind you, and start speaking truth to power.
posted by Anonymous at 2:42 PM
1 Comments:
Who wrote that? Pretty good.
-AD
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