Rumsfeld's Purge

[mediaman007]

If you watch "Rumsfeld's War" on PBS, you will see how he harrassed General Shinseki until Shinseki resigned. But Shinseki was in that position, as was Colin Powell, because they were detail guys.

Shinseki wanted more troops. He knew what had to be done. The civilian, NeoCon Rumsfeld had a concept that he wanted implemented. Shinseki all but said, it couldn't be done. Powell, I think, agreed with Shinseki.

Listen, these guys don't rise to the top for nothing. The military is full of graduates from our academies. But some of these graduates are jerks, cheaters and wannabes. There careers allow the bad guys to be weeded out and away from the track to the top. When someone gets to the top, they are no longer the worst, but the best of the best.

Rumsfeld tossed out the best, and brought in people that had not finished the climb up the ladder. In fact, maybe some of them would not have made it without Rumsfeld.

In the end Rumsfeld pays the price.

[Larkspur]

1. Powell also helped cover up the My Lai massacre

so to advance you military career you must be willing to cover up US atrocities but not to question ideologes, like Rummy.

[aquart]

2. Rumsfeld hasn't paid a thing.

Over 100,000 dead and he still has all his body parts.

[John Q. Citizen]

4. Yep, the Iraqis, our service personel and

we peons are paying the price

[BiggJawn]

3. No, WE pay the price.

Rumsferatu skates off to Cornwall, writing up his memoirs...

[knowbody0]

5. i watched

what a pig of a man
how he loved the press in the beginning
shinseki was devoured
in the end,100,000 iraqis paid the price
in the end, 1,100 soldiers paid the price
in the end, we pay the price
we owe we owe we owe
these things are done in our name
dear god, this is not yet the end

[havocmom]

6. No, in the end tens of thousands of innocents pay the price

and will likely continue for at least another generation. Killing 100,000 Iraqis was not smart. Each one of those innocent bystanders had friends and family. There will be a grudge or two held against America, don't ya think?

Yes, the junta went to war over the advice of the best & the brightest. Shinseki would not have left a known cache of explosives sit there unguarded while he rushed troops to Baghdad for photo op with a statue and Chalabi's thugs posing as adoring fans of US preemptive wars.

[ladjf]

9. Far worse than a grudge. More like a permanent, seething

vendetta that will last for multi-generations.

[havocmom]

11. I know, but I am trying to master understatement

yes, the only people safer in the world today are those who make & sell arms. The neocons have assured their prosperity for generations with the policies they have implemented.

[MADem]

7. You know what would be amusing, poetic justice?

Pull Shinseki out of retirement and make him CHAIRMAN OF THE JOINT CHIEFS. He'd be good at it--except for that horrible decision with the berets, he is what they need now--a detail guy. Plus, he'd get the "First Asian Chairman" thing out of the way.

[knowbody0]

8. you bet

[JHB]

10. Ironically, Rummy is the one neocon who's not a chickenhawk...

...although he doesn't seem to mind if anyone makes a mistake and thinks he was ever anywhere near an active battlefield while in uniform.

But I agree with others, Rummy hasn't paid any price, and won't with anything short of a long retirement in Leavenworth.