Rumsfeld defends use of smaller sized force in Iraq

[bemildred]

WASHINGTON - US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld voiced exasperation Wednesday over criticism that the United States committed too few troops to stabilize Iraq against the advice of his former army chief of staff.

Rumsfeld said his top commanders recommended that the smaller sized force used in Iraq, and that was the number of troops the administration went with.

"So I must say I am tired of the Shinseki argument being bandied about day after day in the press," Rumsfeld told members of the Senate Appropriations Committee.

General Eric Shinseki was the army chief of staff who told Congress before the US invasion of Iraq two years ago that about the same number of troops would be needed to stabilize Iraq as to invade -- several hundred thousand, by his estimate.

Turkish Press

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

[tabasco]

1. This is what passes for leadership under the Bush regime.

Failure to accept responsibility and failure to admit mistakes. These qualities are anathema to good leadership.

Rumsfeld belongs behind bars for his criminal negligence and outright corruption.

[atreides1]

7. Rumsfeld belongs behind bars

As do the generals and admirals that support him and Bush.

These members of the "Praetorian Guard", have failed the troops. It was their duty to make sure that the soldiers and marines on the ground had access to all the equipment that they required.

But because of their failure to be real leaders, and their need to be bootlicking ass kissers, and to pad their retirement pay, the troops will continue to be killed and maimed. And even the wounded get nothing more then lip service from these men and women with stars
on their collars.

When I became an NCO in the US Army I was always told that the two most important jobs of an NCO was to 1. Take care of your troops and
2. To accomplish the mission.

But I was told that of these two rules, number 1 was the most important, because if you fail to take care of your troops, you will
never be able to accomplish the mission.

Look at Iraq, and tell me which rule is more important now.

[tabasco]

9. We can take some measure of pride from the fact ...

that the greatest opposition to Bush's war plans came from the Army (I'm an Army vet too).

However, any general who had the moral courage to state an opinion contrary to Rummy and Bush got retired.

Now I am sad to say I don't believe a word any of the highest ranking officers say, because they were installed by Bush as yes-men. For example, the one-star who briefed the press on the "firefight in and out" during the rescue of Jesica Lynch. It will take the military years to recover from the corruption of the Bush years.

Thanks a lot for your service. The people I hold in the highest regard from my service are NCOs.

[Zenlitened]

2. I think the issue with Rummy is... he's not very bright.

Seriously! I mean, he must've slept/bribed/threatened his way to the top. Because this guy is just dumber than a box of rocks.

[swag]

3. Belligerent idiot.

[leftofthedial]

4. they just kept firing people

until they were left with womeone who told them what they wanted to hear.

[Career Prole]

5. "So I must say I am tired of the Shinseki argument ..."

Fuck off, Rumsfeld. The truth doesn't have an on/off switch.

[louis-t]

6. "Yeah, they're kickin' our asses over there..

but I still stay we coulda done better with 30,000 troops instead of 130,000." God, he's such an idiot. Why do they let him talk?

[PuraVidaDreamin]

11. THey STILL let Bush talk!

[NYC]

8. Marines forced to use dummies.

http://smh.com.au/articles/2005/04/26/1114462041421.html?oneclick=true

Baghdad: US marines who suffered the highest casualty rate of any unit in Iraq have revealed that they were so short of soldiers that they used cardboard dummies to fool insurgents into believing they faced more men.

Company E of the First Marine Division dressed the cutouts in shirts and placed them in observation posts to trick rebels into thinking they were manned.

More than one third of the unit's 185 troops were killed or wounded during its six-month tour last year in the insurgent stronghold in Ramadi, west of Falluja, during which it faced 26 gun battles, 90 mortar attacks and nearly 100 homemade bombs.

The deception was revealed on Monday when the marines broke the corps' code of silence to detail the extent of shortages of equipment and manpower which they blame for many of their comrades' deaths.

[applegrove]

10. Bullshit! Rumsfield kept pushing for a smaller force using his

'assumptions'. Woodward documents this meticulously in one of his books.

Those neocons.. they love to blame others for their problems.

******! (babies)