WASHINGTON – The Iraqi prisoner abuse scandal is exposing a Pentagon increasingly at war with itself, leading to a crisis of leadership even as tens of thousands of US troops risk their lives battling insurgents in Iraq and Afghanistan. For months, discord has been growing in Pentagon corridors over the Iraq war, as senior US military officers criticize what they see as Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld's risky war plan and the lack of a clear political end game. Mr. Rumsfeld, in turn, has often chastised what he sees as hidebound, overly conservative military thinking. Now, the clash between Rumsfeld's push-the-envelope approach and inherent military conservatism is again in full display over allegations that Pentagon policymakers blurred the traditional military chain of command in order to better gather intelligence.
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Among senior US military officers in Iraq and at the Pentagon, there is a feeling that military gains on the battlefield have been consistently undercut by policy miscalculations. These include decisions about the number and types of troops needed to stabilize Iraq after the war, the ongoing lack of a clear political goal for Iraq, as well as the prison abuse scandal that many see as losing the vital fight to win Iraqi "hearts and minds." For example, one US commander, Army Maj. Gen. Charles Swannack Jr., who commanded 82nd Airborne Division troops in Fallujah, told the Washington Post this week that while the US is still winning the counterinsurgency at the tactical level of fighting, it is loosing the war strategically because of a lack of coherent policy. The fact that such a senior commander is speaking out reflects a regret expressed by other high-ranking officers that they did not openly oppose what many earlier saw as poor Pentagon planning for postwar Iraq.
"Shame on us," says one senior Army officer. He says that while Army planners knew of the potential pitfalls, they and their advice were essentially shut out of the postwar planning effort and they were told instead to focus on defeating the Iraqi Army and toppling the Saddam Hussein regime.
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"People don't think they are well led at the highest civilian leadership," says retired Air Force Lt. Col Karen Kwiatowski, who left the Pentagon's policy office just before the war started and has emerged as one of a few from the military who have publicly criticized the Pentagon leadership. "The credibility of
Wolfowitz and Rumsfeld is lower than it ever was," she says.
http://www.csmonitor.com/2004/0514/p01s01-usmi.html
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