Rumsfeld Did Not Intimidate Joint Chiefs, Ex-Chairman Says--WaPo [View All]

[Demeter]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/04/16/AR2006041600665.html?referrer=email



Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld did not intimidate members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff during planning of the Iraq war as some retired generals have charged, a former chairman said yesterday.

With Rumsfeld described by his critics as a micromanager who did not listen to military leaders, the Pentagon circulated a one-page memo late last week detailing the defense secretary's frequent contacts with numerous military and civilian advisers.

Richard B. Myers, the Air Force general who was chairman of the Joint Chiefs from 2001 until last fall, dismissed criticism that military leaders did not stand up to Rumsfeld and President Bush when they disagreed with those civilian officials.

"We gave him our best military advice, and I think that's what we're obligated to do," Myers said on ABC's "This Week." "If we don't do that, we should be shot."

A half-dozen retired generals have called for Rumsfeld's ouster, citing mistakes in the conduct of the war in Iraq. Some have suggested that intimidation by Rumsfeld kept military leaders quiet even when they thought policies were flawed.

"You'd have to believe that everybody in the chain of command is intimidated, and I don't believe that," Myers said. He added that Rumsfeld allowed "tremendous access" for presenting arguments.


I LOOKED MYERS UP: the General with an MBA, a desk jockey for most of his career smoozing with the space contractors, a Vietnam flyboy and not a grunt, he was one of Bush's first appointees back in 2000, and was awarded the tarnished "Medal of Freedom" upon his retirement in 2005. So he was and still is a Bushbot, and Bush didn't have to intimidate the entire chain of command, when he'd put such an effective plug at the top of it.....by the way, some debate as to where the MBA General was when the Towers went down....

Ah, Spring, with the smell of conspiracy in the air....