General Retreats on Rumsfeld Rift

[Rose Siding]

ABOARD A C-32 JET, over the Persian Gulf, Dec. 29 - It was a rare moment last month when Gen. Peter Pace, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, publicly contradicted his boss, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld. On Thursday, however, General Pace essentially said never mind.
.....
When General Pace was asked again on Thursday by reporters in Bahrain about the exchange, he said for the first time that he and Mr. Rumsfeld had not really disagreed at all. General Pace said he was talking about the obligations of American soldiers in a war zone like Iraq or Afghanistan; Mr. Rumsfeld, he said, was talking about the obligations of Americans in a nonhostile setting like, say, Tokyo.

"When I discussed it with him after the fact, it seemed to me he was talking about global conditions, and I knew that I was talking specifically about conditions in Iraq," General Pace said in an interview later aboard his plane as he continued a weeklong troop visit in the Middle East.

But a transcript of the November news conference shows that Mr. Rumsfeld was asked specifically about the suspected abuses by Iraqi Interior Ministry forces and the United States' obligations to address and prevent them.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/30/international/middleeast/30pace.ready.html

[tularetom]

1. For such brave generals

these guys are really scared for their jobs aren't they?

[Bonhomme Richard]

2. You don't get to be a general without being.....

a politician first. At least not at that level.

[TheDebbieDee]

3. Who knows? Maybe the General's family was threatened...

Can we put anything past this administration?

After all, this is an admin that has stolen two elections, illegally spied on Americans, justified an invasion of another country based on lies, performed a half-assed genocide on Americans in New orleans, blah, blah, blah!

[cliss]

4. I'm still torn on what the military should do in this situation.

When RumsFailed the Cobra took over the Pentagon, he started a Spring Cleaning. Anyone that did not agree with his views, was out on the street. This has been going on for several years.

Of course, lots of people have quit on their own, because they could not stand working for the man or his policies. So we have Pentagon which is not gutted and filled with Yes-men, incompetent stooges who will do whatever RumsFool asks. Our military is now broken, unable to function to protect this country and go about its military responsibilities. We've already seen how incompetent they are.

So the question is, should they stay and bow and scrape to this Goebbels? Knowing his ass will be flushed down the toilet sooner or later. Or should they walk out the door with their pride intact, and "boycott" the Pentagon and then come back once he's out?

I still don't know the answer.

[Demoiselle]

5. In the same NYT issue...US forces monitoring Iraq cops more thoroughly...

It's also a page one story. Rumsfeld may have gotten Pace to backtrack, but it looks like the brass have put more watchdogs in place over there anyway. Rumsfeld saves face, but US military does (at least some of) the right thing in the situation.

[jody]

6. Read "Dereliction of Duty : Johnson, McNamara, the Joint Chiefs of Staff,

and the Lies That Led to Vietnam" by McMaster to see how the JCS caved in to McNamara and Johnston.

Particularly disgusting was the Marine Commandant, the one person who I thought would never put politics ahead of the safety of his troops.