A small group of senior military officers went public, calling for Donald Rumsfeld’s resignation. They accuse him of arrogance and mismanagement of the war. Some call him intimidating. Others accuse him of being disrespectful to military officers. This is not the first time that Rumsfeld has weathered the ‘resignation storm’. After the prisoner abuse scandal at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, many, including politicians (mostly democrats), called for his resignation. President Bush stood by his man then as he is doing now.
The problem I am having with this current situation is the manner in which the officers are going about their criticisms. They are all general officers, who have an extraordinary amount of influence on the troops who are fighting in Iraq, Afghanistan and other countries around the world. They are making statements in the newspapers and on the TV networks that are being interpreted and analyzed by the enemies of America. The same generals had many opportunities to voice their opinions to the Defense Secretary but did not do so when they had the chance. The same generals would not have found it to be so funny if their troops started making statements in the press about how worthless some of them are. [Read more…]