We deserve a better man

For once, I wholeheartedly agree with Bill Kristol: Donald Rumsfeld is a national embarrassment and his (mooted) departure can't come too soon. I am hoping that, as suggested, he is just hanging around long enough not to muck with the Iraq election (such as it is), and that he will then gracefully bow out. However, it is only a faint hope. After all, he's been loyal to Bush, and as it's painfully obvious that loyalty counts far more than competence in this administration, who's to say if Rummy will ever be held to account for his gross negligence?

"Since the Iraq conflict began, the Army has been pressing ahead to produce the armor necessary at a rate that they believe -- it's a greatly expanded rate from what existed previously, but a rate that they believe is the rate that is all that can be accomplished at this moment. I can assure you that General Schoomaker and the leadership in the Army and certainly General Whitcomb are sensitive to the fact that not every vehicle has the degree of armor that would be desirable for it to have, but that they're working at it at a good clip."

So the Army is in charge. "They" are working at it. Rumsfeld? He happens to hang out in the same building: "I've talked a great deal about this with a team of people who've been working on it hard at the Pentagon. . . . And that is what the Army has been working on." Not "that is what we have been working on." Rather, "that is what the Army has been working on." The buck stops with the Army.

At least the topic of those conversations in the Pentagon isn't boring. Indeed, Rumsfeld assured the troops who have been cobbling together their own armor, "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.

Kristol's not the only one angry at Rummy. In fact, someone who was once rather heavily involved in Iraq has weighed in. Stormin' Norman is not a happy man:

“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.

John McCain also has the knives out for him:

Asked about his confidence in the secretary’s leadership, McCain recalled fielding a similar question a couple weeks ago. “I said no. My answer is still no. No confidence,” McCain said.

He estimated that 80,000 more Army personnel and 20,000 to 30,000 more Marines would be needed to secure Iraq.

“I have strenuously argued for larger troop numbers in Iraq, including the right kind of troops — linguists, special forces, civil affairs, etc.,” McCain said. “There are very strong differences of opinion between myself and Secretary Rumsfeld on that issue.”

By the way, If you want an on-the-ground perspective on the soldiers' view of armor on Humvees, check out this shouldn't-be-funny-but-is home video from Baghdad.

Comments

[Jeff]

So let me get this straight. 1,200+ troops dead, many times that injured, many times that of Iraqi civilians killed and injured, continuing prison abuse scandals (for which someone said he would take full responsibility, whatever that means), unnecessary insulting of our allies, completely botched occupation with way too few troops, an armor problem documented throughout the year... and now these guys all have something to say?

These critics should be ashamed of themselves to wake up now, purportedly because a soldier asked Rummy a single question at a random press conference. Where were they in October? How about the whole year before? McCain knows the truth and yet he chose his political aspirations over doing his job and doing what's right. How utterly sad.

[jj]

Seriously! We have Kristol, Schwarzkopf, and McCain all rapping their shit over how bad the situation is. If I am not mistaking, all 3 were in favor of this stupid war and now they are running around blaming someone else. They share as much fault as Rumsfeld so they ought to just do us all a favor and shut the hell up.

[rodi]

There's an important fact that leads to all sudden criticism; the fact that nobody has anything to lose now that Bush won. Barring a sex scandal (haaaa), nothing he does is gonna get him impeached so all of the sudden it's OK for everyone to come out and bitch.

Funnny how Bush loved to talk about flip-flopping so much, yet nobody can figure out what McCain's real agenda is. And nobody would have listened to Stormin Norman before the election; they would have dismissed it as sour grapes for not winning the war the right way in 1991.

This entire admiinistration will clearly go down as the most incompetent bunch of lying assholes in the history of the US. And STLLL the NBC poll released yesterday shows a 49% approval rating. Not even one single percentage point drop since last summer.

Americans are caught in some self-justifying state of denial. The stories keep coming and everyone just continues to pretend nothing is wrong. How about this gem of a hedaline in today's news?

"Election outcome might not please U.S.
Shiite victory likely to take nation in Islamic direction"

"They will have a Shia-dominated, Islamic-oriented government in Iraq," said Rashid Khalidi, director of the Middle East Institute at Columbia University. "Is the United States ready for that?"
=================================================

Ummm, no shit. They say over 60% of those who might vote in an Iraqi election are Islamist Shiites who will NOT be sympathetic to anything involving the US government. The current "interim" prime minister is nothing more than a puppet desined to show the world that Iraq was just dying to have America occupy their nation and impose their wonderful brand of democracy on a country that has had strife for several thousand years.

Oh,yeah. And I heard that over 1 million Iranians have crossed into Iraq to register to vote. Of course they would be supporting the Ayatollahs or other candidates whose views are not exactly democratic. Ummm, does this mean I can sneak 999,999 of my Canadian counterparts into Montana in 2006 so all us evil gay-loving, anti-patriotic Liberal Leftists can take back the Senate?

My recent vacation to Florida showed me that while everything we talk about may seem like an obvious embrarassment, most Bush supporters seem destined to remain their little state of denial.

And just to make sure it stays that way, does anyone besides me see the irony in this other fear-mongering headline from today designed to keep Jesusville at bay?

"Tape attributed to bin Laden praises attack on U.S. consulate in Saudi Arabia"

EVERY TIME the headlines in Iraq seem posied to change public opinion, someone mysteriously comes up with a new Bin Laden tape to remind America why they voted for Bush. FEAR, baby. FEAR.

McCarthy must be laughing in his grave

They're all crooks and psychos.

http://armchairsubversive.com/

[expats chat]

Oh, such a long explanations of yours Rodi. Well, still nice and very informative.

[obgyn gilbert]

The truth remains. The citizens knew it somehow.