Rummy Resigns

I can't wait for the memoir.

I can't wait for the Dems to start the investigations.

Should have seen this coming. Last week Bush endorsed Rumsfeld. Not to belabour the football metaphor, but that's like the Owner saying he has tonnes of faith in the GM.

IOW's, the political kiss of death. It was also speculated on FOX last night.

Cheers,
lance

Damn, I'm gonna miss him. Best press conferences ever during the initial Iraq invasion and a no BS attitude with the press made him alright in my book. Plus he's hated by all the right people, leftists, hippies etc.

WRT the Dems taking the Congress tonight is a typical result of war time presidents usually getting a wake up call on their battle performance.

Taking corrective action usually reverses that trend in follow up elections.

Iraq should have had about 50-70 thousand more troop in its initial phase to secure the some 8700 weapons dumps around Iraq.

Recall that Gulf War 1 had some 660,000 troops. Gulf War 2 has some 130,000 troops and has been criticized as Gulf War "Lite". Given the troop complement is roughly 1/6th of Gulf War 1 the criticism in the runup to the midterm elections hasn't been misplaced. It wasn't as if some generals hadn't been asking for a more robust deployment.

That did not happen, allowing insurgents to infiltrate porous borders to loot out enough munitions to keep the insurgency well supplied.
The Dems think they can pull out quickly, but I don't buy it. That will just devolve Iraq into a bigger mess.

I think "Rummy" recognized the result and was cognizant that he could not be effective going forward.

Robert Gates dates from CIA head '91-'93 who took a more robust deployment focus in Gulf War 1 as a National Security Advisor. Obviously Gulf War 2 or Gulf War "Lite" has taken its toll and a fresher approach is going to be taken.

Note also Robert Gates was also knowledgeable about the Iran Contra figures; which is interesting since Ortega is now back in Nicarauga and the Iranian arms sales with Ollie North being the whistle blower.

Quite the interesting pick given Robert Gates will be up to speed on Iran and Nicarauga simultaneously.

Note that Ahmadinejad cited the 1953 CIA inspired overthrow in Iran in his most recent letter to GWB.

Should be cause for some interesting debate going forward with the Dems as now the WOT will be in their court and the constructive criticism will have to bear fruit.

Hastard's gone too now.. What I hate about this Foley crap is that the media and the Dems want us to think that Hastard's motives for not coming forward sooner were purely selfish. Instead couldn't it have been that he didn't want to see a weak House get ushered in over a silly scandal which would then potentially throw away the US military's gains in Iraq? Is that that terrible? Also it turned out that Foley's love interest was not a minor. What if word had gotten out that Hastard was trying to oust a gay member before the story broke to the press? "Hastard tries to oust gay Republican from House" That would have looked worse. Hastard was screwed either way. I hate the media.

I will bet he is in state of shock and awe.

"Retired generals had better operational information than I did," said Mr. Rumsfeld "When I gave a news conference, everything I said was doubted by the reporters. But now that I'm retired, the big news media will hire me to talk about what's really going on in the theater of operations. I just wasn't in the loop before."

He's such a gigantic ass. I can't sum him up any shorter or sweeter.

America Misses

Americans avoid facing and understanding the problem at our peril.

The fundamentalist march is gaining strength and it is a complex headache to deal with.

The American people have chosen to not deal with the problem, but rather to look the other way and hope for the best.

The majority of the American people do not realize the true and urgent nature of the common thread running through the Taliban, Hezbollah, al Quaeda, the Muqtada al Sadr killing squads of Sadr City Iraq, and Hamas.

Americans fail to see the peril clearly because the Media has managed to avoid joining the dots so that no clear picture of understanding is generally available.

This is a time when all free nations should be joining with the EU and Nato to restrain Iran from its Islamofascist take-over of the Middle East.

If the radical Mullahs , [ not the citizens], of Iran are allowed to take over Iraq and build their world Centre of Terrorism from that base, just as Osama bin Laden declared, our military conflicts will become desperately massive.

Pulling out of Afghanistan and Iraq would condemn millions of people who hoped for a free and civilized life to massive torture and death. Citizens of Iran also had hopes of a modern way of life but can not speak out now without losing their heads.

Today we seem to be repeating history under similar storm clouds of war to those overhead in 1938 before our struggle against Hitler. = TG

Americans = All North Americans

This has been a good last 14 hours.

We have Dubya's hands tied behind his back so he can't do as much damage. And now the incompetant fool Rumsfeld has been relieved of his duties. Both things should have been done long ago. Unfortuantely it cost the Republicans the House and the Senate before they woke up.

Should be an interesting 24 months in Washington, D.C.

Saskboy - you've been around long enough to know better than that. Clickety clicky!

he's 'out of the loop' now, so now he's even more 'inside the loop'.

what utter fukin loopiness. the secretary of defence, er, EX secretary of defence claims he couldn't get reliable information.

gee, THAT'S what the anti invasion bunch were claiming from very early on, visa vie the WMD bullshyt.

hey, donny baby, if YOU cant get the accuracy from YOUR vantage point, who in blazes on the globe can ??????? who has this information ???? who ???? is some army intelligence low level field op walking around with it ???? WHO DONNY ???? WHO HAS IT ??????

“But there are also unknown unknowns,
The ones we don't know
We don't know.” -DR

I’ll miss Rummy’s quotes but the new guy seems to have some potential. And they may even be simple enough for the left to get.

"Speaking to you all again is a bit like being Larry King's newest wife--
I know what I'm supposed to do here, I'm just not sure how to make it interesting." - Robert Gates

It's no big surprise that Rumsfeld went today. I wonder who'll be following him.

I hope it's not Condi Rice, she one of the good ones there.

Kitchener:

Robert Gates is the new Secretary of Defence designate. Formerly, CIA Director in '91-93.

qwerty - you too.

(After all this time, you'd think people would learn to follow the links. It helps you look like less the fool.)

Rumsfeld has a wicked sense of humor!

Any ine who can piss off the half wit liberals like he does is a joy to watch...I'll miss the interviews and look forward to the book.
As usual your trolls don't have freekin' clue.

“But there are also unknown unknowns,
The ones we don't know
We don't know.” -DR

I always considered that to be an intelligence test for the blogosphere. You always knew what level you were speaking with when they declared it made no sense.

Re Rummy...make that ANYONE..sorry for the bad typing....

TG: Wow, well said! That is exactly what everyone is not looking at, the bigger picture. All you have to do is look at Europe, Spain and England. Just because one chooses to turn a blind eye doesn't mean that the problem is going to go away.

One down, three to go

Donald Rumsfeld needs to wear iced underwear because of some medical condition, and he has his secret service detail hold his spares. He was recently getting uncontrollable long-term erections and had to change up his medical treatments. The underwear and the erections is why he uses a standing desk, not because he is some super-man. He also wears nylon stockings, not because he’s gay, but to control some vascular problem with his legs which causes him intense pain.

"I can't sum him up any shorter or sweeter."

Sorry Kate, moderate the comment if you have a thing against the a word being thrown around now.

Hans Rupprecht,
I do believe your forgetting the 4th I.D. sitting off the coast of Turkey and getting seasick. The Turks did not get the transit tax, and the 4th I.D. was late, to the war, by approximately a month.

“But there are also unknown unknowns,
The ones we don't know
We don't know.” -DR

very reminicent of someone on this side of the border....
a truth is a truth is a truth.

And just wondering Kate, but do you moderate trackbacks for content, or are my trackbacks to your blog entries just getting stuck in your filter when they never seem to show up?

WOW! Who would have thought that after all this time Gates and Ortega would get tagged back into the ring at the same time.

I have no idea what's going on with trackbacks. Ever since the MT update, they don't show up. Of course, I haven't spent a lot of time looking into it either. If the roads stay as bad as they are, it's a job for this weekend.

And just wondering, Saskboy - do you ever click on those asterisks to be sure you're reading what you think you are? They're there for a reason.

I like Rumsfeld. But his time was up not long after the Iraqi innvasion.

His accomplishments

1) Stared down the generals and the pork barrelling congress on a couple of uneeded weapons systems

2) Saw early and pushed hard, pre 9/11 for greater use of special forces and less on set piece battles

3) Pushed the military to lighter, leaner and more lethal

The forces proved his point that they could take Bagdahd as quickly as they did coming from 1 direction with fewer troops and thus lowered the apparent cost to the US of successful military action.

I would say, in a state to state conflict there is absolutely no more lethal or better armed forces on the planet....by a long way.

Failures

1) Failure to plan for the peace
2) failure to work well with the CIA, they worked great in afghanistan but tried to bring it all in for iraq
3) failure to adapt when his model wasnt working in the post state to state environment
4) Failure to work cross departmentally....he would have killed anyone in his companies had they acted this way.

It was time to go, and post election was the time, the people spoke, not when the generals were asking. Even if it is an illusion you still need civilian control

I respected what he acheived and his legacy will outlive him.

I always look at what site they point to, and if I feel adventurous click them too. After I figured out what you meant by "clicky click" I visited a couple and was pleasantly surprised by the reaction on some and put an update to reflect that in my blog entry.

“because one chooses to turn a blind eye doesn't mean that the problem is going to go away”

It worked out well enough once though.

“Nelson, who had lost the sight of one eye, put the telescope to his blind eye and said that he could see no such signal (to withdraw). He did attack, and the French were forced to surrender,”

Known knowns

1. Contrary to what everyone knows war strategy is the domain of the Generals in the theatre. (The public obviously knows better than Casey and Abizaid how to fight the insurgency and eliminate the sectarian violence.)
2. Rumsfeld is the wiping boy for an agenda driven media which hasn't got a clue.
3. They went with what they had without massively redeploying from Germany and Korea. Troop levels had been reduced from 20 divisions to 12 under Clinton.
4. The argument that this would have been over if they had sent more troops overlooks two things. One, there would have been less incentive for the Iraqis to build up the forces they need to defend themselves. Two, the insurgents may have lied low and waited for the Americans to leave before beginning their attacks.
5. There will be no peace in Iraq until enough evildoers/ bad guys are killed that the rest accept that they cannot regain power through force and the need for Shiite payback has been satiated.
6. Rummy has a great sense of humour. His critics seem challenged in this area.
7 A sense of humour is often a sign of intelligence.
8. Rummy will sleep well tomorrow. He did his best for an ungrateful nation (who knew better than he did).
9 The real heroes are those who voted for the mission and then, completely clueless about historical precedent, started to attack it the moment it got difficult.

Tertius:

Thanks for bringing the Turkey issue up. It did throw a wrench into things; you are quite right.

That is one of those heat of battle things to overcome. Nothing goes exactly as planned, when on a war footing. Those who have studied military history know this only too well.

The plasticity of battle required the 4th I.D. to be re-routed to the south, if I recall correctly. The war planners thought they could count on Turkey as a NATO ally but that was not the case.

However, if one is taking an entire armored division you think they would have negotiated access before embarking all those ships. Or is it possible that operational secrecy prevented seeking pre-authorization of transit through Turkey? This will keep some historians busy for a while. In short, why draw up a plan when you don't have secured access to transit passage through an ally's territory? Was it a trust issue with Turkey, etc.?

Turkey got nervous about their own indigenous Kurd population and possible loss of control on their own soil.

Not enough time to build an airstrip in northern Iraq to land a bunch of C17 Globemasters or C5 Galaxys to bring in all the heavy stuff and the likely surface to air missile threat on landing!

The resulting porosity of the Iraq border areas was given full reign because the classic pincer movement could not be achieved. IE. the insurgents could just melt away to the non-secured areas.

The rest is history as the unsecured areas had ample time to ferret away supplies in the central to northern areas.

"Rummy" was on to a good classic strategy; but the access to Turkey issue prevented execution. Historians will debate whether his compensations in overall strategy were adequate.

I have to wonder how many of the experts here have ever been up to their arse in a swamp with a machine gun in their hands? Not many it is fair to conclude.
When have you ever, in all of history, saw a war go as planned.
This Saturday, when I march with the old boys, I will be inclined to recall when an Army, sans equiptment, was rescued from the beaches of Dunkirk.
That was a disaster; so was the bombing of Pearl Harbour, both the result of years of left liberal thinking.
The "Operation Market Garden" calamity was planned and executed by seasoned Generals. The results were no different.
But we didn't sue for peace or think we could negotiate our way out of the mess.
Bush and Runsfeldt went into this war with Clinton's army. They had to call up Reservists! Enough said.

It is speculated in the MM that some of the Dems are realists. Lets hope so.

Terry Gain:

"Troop levels had been reduced from 20 divisions to 12 under Clinton."

Similarly, the Chretien/Martin years reduced our own capabilities to very low levels.

"When have you ever, in all of history, saw a war go as planned."

That's why you have contingency plans. And that's why Rumsfeld is now out of a job - not only did the original "plan" (and I use that term loosely) not work, there was nothing in place to fall back on if it didn't. Whether that's due to arrogance or just plain incompetence is irrelevant.

"Stay the course"? A euphemism for "we don't know what else to do".

The problem with arguing the troop levels issue was that Iraq was a war of choice. They went in at their bidding on their timeline.....this is not questioning objective or anything like that just stating the fact that it was a choice the US made.

So yup they were fighting with Clintons army, but they knew that going in.

Once again, I think that the US forces proved some pretty amazing stuff, albeit against an effectiveness reduced Iraqi army. The result was never in doubt but the speed and low US casualty rate was bar setting, no question about that.

Rumsfeld should also take a bow for the Afghan war. And yes the generals are supposed to have the operational responsibility. Time and memoirs will tell how hard this line was stuck to, the Sec Def and the CIC still have to sign off on the War Plan.

The question of whether the Generals wanted and or needed more is so difficult to determine. I cant really speak to it other than to say there is apparently a difference of opinion. Time and memoirs will tell who is telling more or less of the truth.

Once again I like Rummy, thought he did a bunch of good things and his benefit will show more over time. But today, it probably was time for him to go, totally political, I am more concerned though about rewarding complaining generals than I am about rewarding media or critics. I would hate to think that the Generals feel they can choose their boss.

These are my thoughts on Rommel's resignation . . . oops, I meant Rumsfeld . . .

- He was fired from the position to cover up the Bush' Administrations secret conspiracy to rule over Iraq. For honour, he was allowed to announce his resignation to the world.

That's all.

Putting aside the illegality of the Iraq war,
Anyone suggesting that more troops in Iraq would have led led to the desired outcome is not working with all the facts. The learned people at rand.org have eloquently stated that the number of troops theorectically required to meet the Iraq objectives (500,000+) was plain and simple unsustainable given the size of the US armed forces. See Rand.orgs 2003 publication "Burden of Victory"

"These are my thoughts on Rommel's resignation . . . oops, I meant Rumsfeld . . ."

Anth:

Most generals would count themselves delighted to be considered on the same level as Rommel.

He wasn't regarded as the Desert Fox for nothing.
Rommel also came up with the idea of dummy tanks on Volkswagen frames which were obscured by dust clouds to hide their real identity. Rommel also had his supply lines constantly plagued, most notably by the Brits in Malta and the Mediterranean.

He managed to conjure up victories and even drove Churchill to some distraction with the following:

Speaking in the House of Commons in 1942, Winston Churchill said of Rommel: "We have a very daring and skillful opponent against us, and, may I say across the havoc of war, a great general."

If you are putting Rummy on the same level of Rommel, Rummy would probably take it as a compliment.

Oh, come on now Anth!!

We all know the secret conspiracy was going to put YOU in charge of Iraq. You are far too modest - you should be shouting about this from the rooftops. Go ahead now....

“Nelson, who had lost the sight of one eye, put the telescope to his blind eye and said that he could see no such signal (to withdraw). He did attack, and the French were forced to surrender,”

Blind in one eye and can't see out of the other is a joke I know well. Dumb luck is another one.

I think you have to be blind in both eyes to see things differently. This is clearly a time to re-focus and develope some spidey senses. The Bush admin. needs to get a new game plan because they've clearly layed out their hand and played by the rules, and still didn't win.

As for Mr.Gates: "Speaking to you all again is a bit like being Larry King's newest wife--
I know what I'm supposed to do here, I'm just not sure how to make it interesting." - Robert Gates

Turn the lights off and 'feel' your way through it. And maybe wear some protection.

As for Mr.Gates: "Speaking to you all again is a bit like being Larry King's newest wife--
I know what I'm supposed to do here, I'm just not sure how to make it interesting." - Robert Gates Posted by: One eyed Jill at November 8, 2006 06:13 PM

Way to go Jill! Side splitting.

Terry, I was responding to Cal's post/quote 03:01 PM.

Still side splitting.

I'd be suprised if the Dems pressured the White House to withdraw from Iraq. They may put his feet to the coals over his performance but they only practical way they could force such an issue would be to cut funding to the troops in the field which would be political suicide. I think it was a republican politican who said "when your opponent is shooting himself stay out of the way". I suspect the Dems will give Bush all the rope he wants.

I'd be suprised if the Dems pressured the White House to withdraw from Iraq. They may put his feet to the coals over his performance but they only practical way they could force such an issue would be to cut funding to the troops in the field which would be political suicide. I think it was a republican politican who said "when your opponent is shooting himself stay out of the way". I suspect the Dems will give Bush all the rope he wants.

Stephen at 05:07
What I meant by Clintons Army was that there wasn't the numbers any longer to fight a war on several fronts at once. Many of the best and most experienced people had left and the equiptment was still 1980's vintage. I believe Rumy's top General quit after phase one was won. I also read that morale was affected by some of the Clintonian PC tampering. NATO is not filling in to release US or Canadian soldiers. The original plan was to thump the Taliban and leave. The UN wouldn't hear of it.
It is easy for armchair generals, myself included, to complain about no contingency plan and not enough strength to do the job, but that's war.

Jose,

As a conservative, I hope the Dems do exactly what you suspect they will do.