It is sad to see that everyone agrees that its good about Rummy befing fired.
As an opposing opinion, I would like to say that he was probably the only one in the administration that knew anything about the military and he basicaly followed orders, using what resources were available to him, not complaining or refusing, but doing. He was a soldier and acted like a true soldier to the last day.
It wasn’t his idea to transform the military when he was appointed and it wasn’t his decision to attack, he simply did it, the best that he could with what available resources he had.
Don’t blame him for the quagmire we are in, blame the other civilian “decision makers” for going in as well as keeping our troops there now in the middle of a civil war where all sides no longer want us there.
I for one am sad to see Donald Rumsfeld be the sacraficial scapegoat. But at least he is doing it with grace and honor.
For his detractors, I suggest you read up on his history.
I half agree with you. He is a sacrificial scapegoat, though he does have his share of responsibility for the administration’s mistakes. But it is dishonest of Bush to sack him as if Rummy made all the real decisions about war in Iraq: the decisions were made at the top, and the buck should stop there. So the honest thing for Bush to do is say, “The American people have spoken, and I’m resigning.” (But it would be nice if he could get Cheney to resign first, and then for him to resign in January, when Pelosi is Speaker of the House).
I have, I did, he was a Navy Pilot that never saw combat and only did a few years of Active duty. He made Captain as a reservist after his brief stint as SecDef under Ford. There is nothing in his record of particular note. He has received his position twice on the strength of friendships.
CITE please. As I understand it, that stuff was indeed Rumsfeld’s idea. I was pretty sure that’s why it’s called the Rumsfeld Doctrine. He wanted a faster military and wanted Iraq taken care of with as few people as possible.
Didn’t he want to attack Iraq in response to September 11th?
He’s given us way too much history in the last six years.
RUmsfeld was indeed very much the architect of this disaster, in many ways, from his insistence on low troop levels to his disregard for post-invasion planning. Rumsfeld never grasped the concept of what the strategic goals were. That’s because he conflated the tactical victories with the strategic ones. He and his subordinates (Wolfowicz, Feith) completely bought into the idea that the U.S. troops would be greeted as liberators and therefore completley underestimated the insurgency and what it would take to win the peace. That and the falsity of the WMD scare comletely colored how the war was and is being fought. They pretty much got everything wrong.
Thanks, Gangster Octopus. Even if Rumsfeld didn’t come up with these ideas and only implemented them because he was “a good soldier,” then he’s just Colin Powell all over again: a man who got along to get along, and allowed himself to be used. Powell is responsible for not standing up for himself, and Rumsfeld would be, too.