Libertarian Leanings

Rumsfeld Discusses the Politicized CIA

Former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld's book, Known and Unknown is the topic of the interview excerpt below in which he talks about the CIA.

I'm reading it myself, at the moment, and it's a good read.  Well worth the time.  Video comes by way of American Thinker.

The crisis that isn't

With hindsight that falls far short of 20-20 today's Washington Post concludes that Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld should have gone long ago owing to his responsibility for a litany of supposed failures.

Mr. Rumsfeld's contributions to growing trouble in Iraq were evident: his self-defeating insistence on minimizing the number of troops; his resistance to recognizing and responding to emerging threats, such as the postwar looting and the Sunni insurgency; his rejection of nation-building, which fatally slowed the creation of a new political order. Had Mr. Bush replaced Mr. Rumsfeld in 2004, the administration might have avoided the defense secretary's subsequent and similar mistakes, such as his slowness to acknowledge the emerging threat of Shiite militias and death squads last year.

Failure is a forgone conclusion laid at Rumsfeld's feet.  He "fatally slowed the creation of a new political order."  Unable to predict how events would unfold ahead of time, in the view of the Post, he should at least have been able to respond instantaneously to the way they did.  And because of the President's failure to hold Rumsfeld accountable, there has been a dangerous "eruption of public discontent from the retired generals."  This sets the stage for our new crisis du jour. 

If they are successful in forcing Mr. Rumsfeld's resignation, they will set an ugly precedent. Will future defense secretaries have to worry about potential rebellions by their brass, and will they start to choose commanders according to calculations of political loyalty?

What a positively absurd case of wishful thinking on the part of the Post.  I can't imagine an event they would greet with greater joy than to have President Bush admit that he was wrong about something.  But apparently Post editors have never heard of a General named Myers.  There's no mention of the name in this latest lament.  Retired Air Force Gen. Richard B. Myers did not have kind things to say about the discontented generals. 

We gave him our best military advice and I think that's what we're obligated to do," Myers said on ABC's "This Week." "If we don't do that, we should be shot."

He and retired Marine Lt. Gen. Michael DeLong indicated that sentiments voiced by the discontented and amplified by the Post are far from unanimous.

"His management style is a tough management style," DeLong said on NBC's "Today" show. "He's tough to work with. He is a micromanager, but he's very effective. He's very competent but very dogmatic and tough when he deals with people."

DeLong said that "when it came to matters of tactics and strategic thought he went with us (the military) if there was any disagreement."

Myers, the former Joint Chiefs chairman, said that Rumsfeld allowed "tremendous access" for presenting arguments.

"In our system, when it's all said and done ... the civilians make the decisions," he said. "And we live by those decisions."

Washington Post dreams of an ugly precedent are just that, dreams.  Rumsfeld will not be forced to resign.  He has the President's confidence.  And, not that it matters, he has mine too.

Myers shoots back

Retired Air Force General Richard B. Myers, who was a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff from 2001 until fall of 2005, is dismissive of those retired generals who said they were intimidated by Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, and thus prevented from voicing their true opinions.

"We gave him our best military advice and I think that's what we're obligated to do," Myers said on ABC's "This Week." "If we don't do that, we should be shot."

Take that, generals!

"You'd have to believe that everybody in the chain of command is intimidated, and I don't believe that," Myers said. He added that Rumsfeld allowed "tremendous access" for presenting arguments.

"In our system, when it's all said and done ... the civilians make the decisions," he said. "And we live by those decisions."

An undated unsigned Pentagon memo that reiterated information given orally to reporters on Friday, said that senior military leaders "are involved to an unprecedented degree in every decision-making process".  According to the memo Rumsfeld had met 139 times with members of the joint chiefs and 208 times with combat commanders in the past year.

You have to wonder how those critics got to be generals if they could be intimidated into silence.  That's not the sort of thing that presents a picture of stalwart leadership.