General Rumsfeld in Iraq — Does anyone but me think it’s a little weird that the Secretary of Defense is acting like an Army General? Visiting the troops. Checking the wounded. Saluting.
I guess Frontline was right. This is Rumsfeld’s war. Creepy.
U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has made a surprise visit to the U.S. base near the Iraqi city of Mosul that was the target of Tuesday’s deadly insurgent attack.
Secretary Rumsfeld told soldiers of the 25th infantry division Friday that they can defeat the insurgency in Iraq.
Earlier, Mr. Rumsfeld told journalists traveling with him that he wanted to thank U.S. soldiers and wish them a Merry Christmas.
Then he got out fast.
Rolling over in grave
Rummy is under fire (finally) from the media for his abysmal handling of the war. This grandstanding in Iraq is clearly intended to shore up his reputation.
It looks like someone needs to take Government 101 again. The Constitution of the U.S. provides for civilian control of the military. An independent professional military has been the breeding ground for almost every coup d’etat in modern history. Rumsfeld was not “acting like a general”. He was acting like the second highest official in the military chain of command -WHICH HE IS. It is one thing to disagree with Runsfeld’s performance as Secretary of Defense – God knows there is much to disagree with – however, it is quite another to posit the notion that he is doing something “weird” by visiting the troops. If you West Coast liberals want a different Secretary of Defense, you need to get off your asses and put together enough voters to get a different president (something you failed miserably at last time around).
Rumsfeld can’t win. If he lets a machine sign his name, he doesn’t care. If he visits the troops, he is grandstanding.
He may be in the chain of command but he’s trying to take over the military. He’s trigger happy and crazy. He’s going to get us all killed. When has a Secretary of defense thrown us into war on bullshit and then kept us fighting for no reason. He’s a madman.
One of the great lessons the Rummy did NOT learn from Vietnam is that bureaucrats and pols in D.C. shouldn’t micro-manage the war. From what I hear, Rummy is on the phone all day to Baghdad calling the shots. No wonder this feels like Vietnam.
Alan