Rumsfeld criticism escalating

[thedrifter]

Rumsfeld criticism escalating <br />
Two more retired generals called for him to resign over the Iraq war. The White House reaffirmed support, saying he was doing &quot;a very fine job.&quot; <br />
By Drew Brown...

[thedrifter]

The Generals' Revolt <br />
by Patrick J. Buchanan <br />
Posted Apr 15, 2006 <br />
<br />
In just two weeks, six retired U.S. Marine and Army generals have denounced the Pentagon planning for the war in Iraq and called...

[thedrifter]

An Officer Responds To David Ignatius
RealClearPolitics.com ^ | April 15, 2006 | Tom Bevan

A Lieutenant Colonel in the United States Army sent the following email in response to David Ignatius' assertion in the Washington Post yesterday that 75%+ of senior military officers want to see Rumsfeld gone:
I would beg to differ with that assessment by Mr. Ignatius. I am a combat arms officer, a combat veteran of the Global War on Terror, currently serving on the faculty of one of the Staff Colleges.

My assessment from extensive and continuous contact with young field grade officers, most of which are combat arms branch, combat veterans, is that Secretary Rumsfeld is considered the finest Secretary of Defense of the last forty years. This is in addition to my "peer group", of which many of us maintain contact with each each other regardless if we are in CONUS or SW Asia.

Maybe Mr. Ignatius has limited his conversations to Officers assigned in the Beltway. Yes, "beltway types" unfortunatly also exist in the military.

However, I can tell you that beyond the Beltway in dusty and dirty places like Ft. Benning, Ft. Stewart, Ft. Hood, Ft. Campbell and Ft. Bragg, where officers wear BDUs instead of Class Bs that there are tens of thousands of Officers, Commissioned/Warrant/Non-Commissioned, that would go to hell and back for this Secretary.

He pushes us to what we "think" is our limit, then shows us we have another ten percent to give. Secretary Rumsfelds nickname among many is the "110% Secretary." Former Secretary Cohen, a good man whom I respected, would have been considered the "90% Secretary" as he never was able to get us to give "all."

It's only one email, of course, but it does provide a perspective on how Rumsfeld is viewed by the officers' corps that stands in stark contrast to the one Ignatius gave yesterday. My hunch is that it's also a lot closer to the truth.

Ellie