Rumsfeld addresses fears over vehicle armor

[maddezmom]

WASHINGTON (AFP) - US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld took the time to defend his view of "the armor issue" of US military forces in Iraq (news - web sites), in an op-ed piece published in USA Today.


"In recent days, much has been made of a question I received from a National Guard soldier at a town hall meeting in Kuwait about armor on Army vehicles," Rumsfeld said Tuesday under a heading in his commentary entitled "The Armor Issue".


The soldier complained about the lack of armor plating for their vehicles. Rumsfeld's answer -- "you go to war with the army you have not the army you might want" -- was considered callous by some lawmakers who called for his resignation.


"His question was a fair one, and I share his impatience," the defense secretary said in his commentary.

more: http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=1515&ncid=1515&e=5&u=/afp/20041221/wl_mideast_afp/usdefenseiraqrumsfeld_041221110712


USAToday
Rumsfeld: Military is evolving

By Donald H. Rumsfeld
Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld has been under increasing criticism during the past few weeks, even from fellow conservatives and Republican lawmakers. USA TODAY offered Rumsfeld an opportunity to respond.

Rumsfeld, on his handling of a question from a National Guard soldier, writes, "...I share his impatience."
By Mark Wilson, Getty Images

When he assumed office, President Bush announced that he wanted the Defense Department to transform, to better face a century of new challenges. We began that effort before 9/11, motivated by the understanding that we live in an era that will be characterized by surprise and uncertainty.

What we have found in four years, in dozens of town hall meetings with military and civilian personnel all over the world, is a department of about 3 million dedicated professionals proud to serve their country. The men and women in uniform are putting their lives at risk for our country. Many have paid the ultimate price, and I honor their service and the sacrifice and dedication of their families and loved ones. It is on their behalf that we must do all we can to develop a military designed to meet the challenges of this era.

We have learned that this wonderful institution is, in many ways, still organized, trained and best equipped for the more conventional challenges of the past century, when wars were conducted largely between large navies, armies and air forces.

The enemies we face today, for the most part, do not have large standing forces or, in some cases, even territory to defend. They know they cannot defeat us on the battlefield, so they choose to fight us in less-conventional ways — ways that play to their strengths, not ours.

more: http://www.usatoday.com/news/opinion/editorials/2004-12-20-rumsfeld-edit_x.htm

:puke: Rummy needs to go.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

1. "I share his impatience"

sure. That's why he said you go into war with the army you've got. That's why he answered in a peevish and distainful way.

The question of the soldier apparently has awakened some people. Even those who have been brainwashed to believe in a 'liberal media' apparently haven't bought the rw spin on this issue and realize the soldier was expressing a real need.

[MSgt213]

2. While Rummy is bad and should go who's going to replace him?

With this administration's love affair with incompetence I fear our troops will be in for even more trouble with a new defense chief. Anyone really good wouldn't touch this job with a 10 foot poll right now.

[Paleocon]

3. No one is held accountable anywhere in America anymore...

God forbid we offend them or their "special needs" and judge them...

Unfortunately "As ye reap, so shall ye sow."

We've got exactly what we deserve.

And it pisses me off.

[Massachusetts]

10. Accountable

I share your pain.

It is right under our nose....OUR public education system.

My wife has been teaching for over 20 years and in that amount of time the "dumbing" of these kids, at all grade levels has been scandalous.

A combination of Local, State, and Federal policy has focused on positive statistics (ex. dumb the test to get the grades), rather than a quality product. IMHO

[Paleocon]

11. Well... There is plenty of pain to be shared...

For sure...

[Nite Owl]

4. How come we could have predicted

that the fighting would be just like this before the war? This was all out there and they ignored it, they just don't care.

[dbt]

5. Rumsfeld knows all about impatience!

He, like the Boy King, was pissing down both legs to get a war on. But Rummy was gonna do it on the cheap; none of that listening to the warriors crap, the US would go all Lean-And-Mean on this one. Rummy was going to prove his Corporate War model: fewer troops would do more work for less money, thus returning a bigger profit for shareholders (read: Halliburton). Does this sound familiar to any Cube Dwellers?

Here's the most telling part of that article: "We began that effort before 9/11, motivated by the understanding that we live in an era that will be characterized by surprise and uncertainty."

Is Rummy admitting what so many DUers knew in their hearts when bu$h took office--that there was going to be war and there wasn't jack that anybody could do about it?

:freak:
dbt

[Demeter]

6. Richard Perle Was on NPR This Morning

Blaming Clinton (of course) for the Army being so ill-prepared to fight an urban guerilla war in a country that was prostrate with economic sanctions and and ripe for civil war. After all, Clinton is responsible for everything, including not having enough armored HumVees, isn't he?

[Paleocon]

9. Richard Perle is an evil pig of a human being...

If anyone is responsible for the shape our Army is in it is Richard Perle and the cabal that he hangs out with...

[RC]

7. Tell me again about the need for a missile Defense Shield.

The enemies we face today, for the most part, do not have large standing forces or, in some cases, even territory to defend.

[Disturbed]

8. A War Criminal and a Liar!!!!

The company that makes the armour said that they could have provided 20% more ea. month for the past year but were never asked to up the production. Rumsfailed blatantly lied to those troops and the world. The irony is that that most troops just accepted his lie.


Rumsfailed Admitted to Violating Geneva Convention

Rumsfailed admitted in public on TV that when CIA Director Tenet requested that an Iraqi prisoner be sent to a secret Afghan/US Prison that Rumsfailed did so. After four months a DOD Attorney stated that this was an illegal act. Rumsfailed then ordered that this prisoner be sent back to Abu Graihib but the prisoner was purposefully not listed at that location, also an illegal act. Rumsfeld also admitted to signing orders for tougher interogation methods which violated the Geneva Conventions.

Rumfailed has commited at least three violations of the Geneva Convention thereby also violations of The Constitution of the USA. Recently it has been found out that even more detainees were "ghost detainees". The fact that Rumsfailed and Tenet have not been charged speaks volumes. If Congress wishes to garner any respect they should move forward with Rep. Rangle's Impeachment Declaration of Rumsfailed and also proscecute Ex. CIA Tenet.

=========================
Q: Senator Jack Reed (Dem, RI): "If you were shown
a video of a United States Marine or an American
citizen in control of a foreign power, in a cell block,
naked with a bag over their head, squatting with their
arms uplifted for 45 minutes, would you describe that
as a good interrogation technique or a violation of
the Geneva Convention?"

A: Marine Gen. Peter Pace, the vice chairman of the
Joint Chiefs of Staff: "I would describe it as a violation."

A: Paul D. Wolfowitz, the deputy secretary of defense: "What
you've described to me sounds to me like a violation of the
Geneva Convention."

Thursday, May 13, 2004, Senate Armed Services Committee hearings

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A25737-20...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A25737-2004May13.htm

Friday 17 December 2004

“Scott Horton, a New York lawyer and president of the International League for Human Rights, has spent months investigating the role Bush administration officials played in the torture scandal. He says there is mounting evidence - including the May 10 FBI e-mail - that strongly suggests that Rumsfeld and his top intelligence aides were directly responsible for the wholesale abandonment of legal and ethical norms as well as international treaty obligations. Now that Republican senators and neoconservative ideologues are publicly turning their backs on the defense secretary, perhaps even he may someday be held accountable for this disgraceful stain on the honor of the U.S. armed forces.”

http://www.truthout.org/docs_04/121804X.shtml




Does the US, Govt., Congress, and the Justice Dept no longer abide by the Geneva Convention or the Constitution of the USA?