Trouble.
I'm not being purposly disingenuous, I truly do not understand what's up with "W".
Last Week, the White House Press Office said something along the lines of, "No matter how the Mid-Term elections turn out, Chaney, Rumsfeld and Somebody-I-Can't-Remember WILL remain a part of this Administration." Then, the very day after the elections, who is replaced? Donald Rumsfeld!
Personally, I think it's a good idea.
He may have served this country in many and varied ways for a long time, but he has been a dismal SecDef. Who in his right mind tries to run a "budget war"?!
We don't have enough troops in Iraq, we've never had enough troops in Iraq. If we want to win, and bring our troops home, we are going to have to temporarily increase the number of troops before we can get things straightened up to the point where we can safelt turn things over and go home.
And the troops we have in Iraq and the 'Stan should have been better equipped from the beginning. More efficient weapons, big and small and better personal protection. Why weren't all the troops sent over with body armour? That we had to have families and friends holding fund raising efforts here to purchase effective body armour for soldiers fighting in a war zone is UNCONSCIONABLE!!!
And to my way of thinking all this ultimately lands at the feet of the SecDef. So bubye,Don. Don't let the door hit your tushie on the way out.
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9 comments:
Six years later, we're still trying to overcome the slashes to our military imposed by the previous 8 years of the prior administration.
It takes a little time to get through the gridlock of 'compromise' that is an effete, spineless Congress all the cool toys and manpower requests to fight a long campaign. Myself, I think Rummy has been doing an OK job, given the ad hominem attacks he's had to fight with both the press and Democrats on his back.
Of course, nothing is preventing Bush from putting Cheney back in as Sec. Def., which would harelip those monkeys further. I'm sure Karl Rove would be glad to help take up the slack at the VP's office :D .
I'm sure that if we'd had the manpower (and the Republicans had had the backbone) we'd have gone in with 350,000 troops instead of 145,000 in the first place.
Regards,
Rabbit.
You and I have had conversations before regarding my feelings about Rummy. I think "blame" can be shared - Rummy offered his resignation twice and once should have been enough.
Please keep in mind that the prior administration did more than its fair share of nailing the military to the wall through funding cuts - everything from flying hours for our pilots to copy paper for basic admin took huge hits during the reign of Billious and Hilarious.
Rummy is/was a vindictive (insert descriptive expletive here)- just ask Colin Powell and General Shenseki (sp
?) who,among others,Rummy reached out,touched, and ended their military/political careers. Plus, having the editor of the combined service newspapers (Army Times, et al)publish a editoral calling for Rum's resignation was a sure sign the time had come for him to get the hello out of Sodom on the Potomac.
Doin' the happy dance now that he's gone but fear his damage will take years to repair.
When an Army wife of {mumbles} years is happy about Rumsfelds resignation I know I'm in the correct corner.
This is a woman who has waved goodbye to her soldier and cried quite tears into her pillow more times than you and I will ever know.
"They also serve..."
Cait--
You're not the only spouse doing the happy dance Rummy's on his way out.
The bullshit move we went through last year was a nightmare because of his "do everything on a shoestring budget" attitude. Good riddance Rummy.
I like the way Rabbit always signs off with "Regards." It's so nice and polite and I think it's truly refreshing. Thank you, Rabbit!
Ok, I concede, Rummy has his issues.
I still think he did a better job than Aspin, Perry, and Cohen did, especially since they weren't up against a hostile Fourth Estate and a vindictive Congress. Myself, I think Bob Gates has the possibility of doing right by the military, even if he was a career Spook. I figure he's had enough involvememnt in running brushfire wars (not to mention the unmentionalbe Iran-Contra) that he can get things done.
They're sure gonna miss him at A&M.
Oh, and thanks, Miz Flo. My gandmas raised good grandkids.
Regards,
Rabbit.
geez...where's that spellchecker?
Mornin' gbro:
I must respectfully disagree with you. Thanks in part to our glorious fourth estate, news of the positive strides made by our "boots on the ground" is not deemed newsworthy. The rebuilding of schools, neighborhood clinics, homes and other infrastructure is simply not as "sexy" as suicide bombings and other atrocities. They also neglect to mention that large sections of Iraq are stable and experiencing very little battle action.
While in Iraq for 15 months, my Warrior's unit either built or rebuilt structures named above. They also rebuilt/built bridges and roads, cleared debris from streets and major thoroughfares that allowed commerce to recommence. Additionally, as the press gleefully reports power outages they neglect to mention that in many cases these areas did not have stable electricity BEFORE our Soldiers arrived. The infracstructure in Iraq had been woefully neglected in favor of palaces and hunting retreats for SadDAMN and his merry band of murdering bastards. From the standpoint of a wife who received this intel from the source, I think it's a shame that so many American's take the word of the press as gospel and the good things, the great things, we're doing for the people of Iraq is relegated to being passed around on blogs and via email.
Not to put to cold a face on it, but people die during WAR and, make no mistake about it, we're AT WAR. Civilians are being murdered, not killed as collateral casualities, by what the press insists on calling "insurgents." The "insurgents" are, in reality, thugs engaged in terrorizing the citizenry with the goal of preventing the Iraqi people from having any voice in moving their country foward after 30 years of oppression. But, I suppose, to some people's way of thinking, helping the Iraqi's is simply none of our business.
As far as "fear and lies" are concerned - particularly WMD's - just ask the Kurds. The chemical murder of whole villages apparently doesn't fall under some people's definition of WMD. And, seeing as the UN, in its infinite wisdom kept threatening to spank SadDAMN via 28 seperate resolutions, they also gave him way plenty time to get whatever he had in the way of WMD's out of Iraq and into other countries - like SYRIA! You noted the almost 3000 Soldiers we've lost...no one talks about the 250,000+(counting "rotations" of Reserve, National Guard and active components)who have returned home?
Ask most any Soldier who's been there, done that and he/she will tell you that they ARE making a difference, that they'd go back, that to pick up and leave now (or immediate future) would be a regional disaster. We owe the Iraqi's - particularly the Kurds - a huge debt for deserting them after Desert Shield and Storm.
Thanks for giving me equal time, gbro, and please do not interpret any sarcasm herein to be directed at you personally. I try to do that face to face (*grin*)and not in blogs where misunderstandings happen easily enough and are sometimes hard to mend.
Thanks, too, Hollyb, for allowing me the space to vent. Kimberly - are you a Sailor's spouse? Floozie and I are Army...
Cheers!
Cait
Cait--
Yup--married to a petty officer first class (E6).
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