[h3]Army Times: Rumsfeld must go!
[/h3] Today or tmorrow the Army Times will run an editorial calling for Donald Rumsfeld to tender his resignation or be fired, due to his gross incompetence in handling the Iraq quagmire. [blockquote] For two years, American sergeants, captains and majors training the Iraqis have told their bosses that Iraqi troops have no sense of national identity, are only in it for the money, don't show up for duty and cannot sustain themselves. Meanwhile, colonels and generals have asked their bosses for more troops. Service chiefs have asked for more money. [/p] And all along, Rumsfeld has assured us that things are well in hand. [/p] Now, the president says he'll stick with Rumsfeld for the balance of his term in the White House. [/p] This is a mistake. [/p] It is one thing for the majority of Americans to think Rumsfeld has failed. But when the nation's current military leaders start to break publicly with their defense secretary, then it is clear that he is losing control of the institution he ostensibly leads. [/p] These officers have been loyal public promoters of a war policy many privately feared would fail. They have kept their counsel private, adhering to more than two centuries of American tradition of subordination of the military to civilian authority. [/p][/blockquote] [a href="vny!://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/110406Z.shtml"]Link[/a] [hr style="width: 100%; height: 2px;"][font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="1"][font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2"]
Here is the text of the editorial, an advance copy:[/font][/font] [/p][hr align="center" width="25%"] [font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="1"][font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2"] Time for Rumsfeld to Go [/font][/font][/p][font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="1"][font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2"] "So long as our government requires the backing of an aroused and informed public opinion ... it is necessary to tell the hard bruising truth." [/font][/font][/p][font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="1"][font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2"] That statement was written by Pulitzer Prize-winning war correspondent Marguerite Higgins more than a half-century ago during the Korean War. [/font][/font][/p][font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="1"][font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2"] But until recently, the "hard bruising" truth about the Iraq war has been difficult to come by from leaders in Washington. One rosy reassurance after another has been handed down by President Bush, Vice President Cheney and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld: "mission accomplished," the insurgency is "in its last throes," and "back off," we know what we're doing, are a few choice examples. [/font][/font][/p][font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="1"][font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2"] Military leaders generally toed the line, although a few retired generals eventually spoke out from the safety of the sidelines, inciting criticism equally from anti-war types, who thought they should have spoken out while still in uniform, and pro-war foes, who thought the generals should have kept their critiques behind closed doors. [/font][/font][/p][font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="1"][font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2"] Now, however, a new chorus of criticism is beginning to resonate. Active-duty military leaders are starting to voice misgivings about the war's planning, execution and dimming prospects for success. [/font][/font][/p][font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="1"][font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2"] Army Gen. John Abizaid, chief of US Central Command, told a Senate Armed Services Committee in September: "I believe that the sectarian violence is probably as bad as I've seen it ... and that if not stopped, it is possible that Iraq could move towards civil war." [/font][/font][/p][font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="1"][font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2"] Last week, someone leaked to The New York Times a Central Command briefing slide showing an assessment that the civil conflict in Iraq now borders on "critical" and has been sliding toward "chaos" for most of the past year. The strategy in Iraq has been to train an Iraqi army and police force that could gradually take over for US troops in providing for the security of their new government and their nation. [/font][/font][/p][font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="1"][font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2"] But despite the best efforts of American trainers, the problem of molding a viciously sectarian population into anything resembling a force for national unity has become a losing proposition. [/font][/font][/p][font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="1"][font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2"] For two years, American sergeants, captains and majors training the Iraqis have told their bosses that Iraqi troops have no sense of national identity, are only in it for the money, don't show up for duty and cannot sustain themselves. [/font][/font][/p][font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="1"][font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2"] Meanwhile, colonels and generals have asked their bosses for more troops. Service chiefs have asked for more money. [/font][/font][/p][font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="1"][font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2"] And all along, Rumsfeld has assured us that things are well in hand. [/font][/font][/p][font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="1"][font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2"] Now, the president says he'll stick with Rumsfeld for the balance of his term in the White House. [/font][/font][/p][font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="1"][font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2"] This is a mistake. [/font][/font][/p][font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="1"][font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2"] It is one thing for the majority of Americans to think Rumsfeld has failed. But when the nation's current military leaders start to break publicly with their defense secretary, then it is clear that he is losing control of the institution he ostensibly leads. [/font][/font][/p][font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="1"][font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2"] These officers have been loyal public promoters of a war policy many privately feared would fail. They have kept their counsel private, adhering to more than two centuries of American tradition of subordination of the military to civilian authority. [/font][/font][/p][font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="1"][font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2"] And although that tradition, and the officers' deep sense of honor, prevent them from saying this publicly, more and more of them believe it. [/font][/font][/p][font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="1"][font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2"] Rumsfeld has lost credibility with the uniformed leadership, with the troops, with Congress and with the public at large. His strategy has failed, and his ability to lead is compromised. And although the blame for our failures in Iraq rests with the secretary, it will be the troops who bear its brunt. [/font][/font][/p][font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="1"][font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2"] This is not about the midterm elections. Regardless of which party wins Nov. 7, the time has come, Mr. President, to face the hard bruising truth: [/font][/font][/p][font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="1"][font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2"] Donald Rumsfeld must go. [/font][/font][/p]
