Rep. Ruppersberger: "...the generals have been reluctant to speak up to Cheney and Rumsfeld. "

[sabra]

http://www.examiner.com/a-500306~Will_Bush_reconsider_Ruppersberger_report_.html

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His plan calls for Iraqi forces to take on more responsibility for securing their own country — a kind of latter-day Vietnamization — and a gradual withdrawal of U.S. forces, whereby American troops “stop patrolling the streets of the major Iraqi cities and instead guard the perimeter. ... With their manpower and technology, they can move back in in 15 or 20 minutes” for emergencies. Such a move takes them out of regular harm’s way and “paves the way” for American personnel to begin exiting as Iraqi troops take on new responsibility, he said.

“I’ve talked to our top five generals,” says Ruppersberger, “and they told me they were confident that the Iraqi military was ready to take on this new responsibility in large parts of the country, and that all Iraqi forces would be ready by the end of the year.” Meaning 2006.

When Ruppersberger went over the plan with Bush, he says, the president smiled and offered words of encouragement. Then, says Ruppersberger, he looked across the room at Vice President Dick Cheney and then-Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.

“They weren’t interested,” he says. “You could see it in their faces.”

Rumsfeld’s gone now, and Ruppersberger wondered if the change might offer a signal. “My sense,” he says, “is that the generals have been reluctant to speak up to Cheney and Rumsfeld. But we can’t go on like this. We have sophisticated weaponry that can fire a missile into a backyard and not injure anyone. But we’re fighting them on their level, and we’re losing people every day. The violence is hit-and-run. The anxiety level is very high among troops, and among Iraqi citizens.