Quotables

[discreet_chaos]

In the current issue of Time, there's an excellent essay from Lieutenant General Greg Newbold (Ret) that essentially argues for the removal of Donald Rumsfeld and is a call to senior military leadership to stand up and be heard. If I were editing the magazine, the following would've been one of my pull-quotes because its message bears repeating;

Comments

[hewet_ka_ptah]

The Retired Generals are coming out of the woodwork. NPR has this on today:

General Riggs Joins in Calling for Rumsfeld to Quit

On All Things Considered, Dan Groure, a thinktanker and "former colleague" of Rumsfeld gave the most retarded speech I've ever heard for keeping Rumsfeld in place. (Besides the guy who said we should keep Rummy because he works on weekends and is patriotic). I loved the part where he mentioned how Rumsfeld keeps on going even after the "mistakes that happened to him." Emphasis mine. Like he tripped over them or something. He didn't make mistakes, no no no, they just happened. Oh, and his "liberal friend" who doesn't like Rumsfeld because of his hubris. Not his dumbassery, his hubris.

Dan Groure has liberal friends like FoxNews has a Democratic consultant.

I hate everyone.

Link here

[discreet_chaos]

I had a doctor's appointment this afternoon and read through Time, while I waited. Overall, I was impressed with the General's essay, but I thought the quote was impressive enough that I wrote it down in case the article wasn't online. I now see after posting, the link may be among the most popular on the web, but thus far, I haven't seen anyone else run with this particular quote

[hewet_ka_ptah]

I figure that barring a taste for kiddie porn or an arrest for shoplifting, he's probably relatively safe

Agreed. It doesn't make me any less willing to froth at the mouth though. Someday, perhaps, I'll stop letting all this stuff make my head explode.

it would be nice if the present military establishment were sprout a backbone

Riggs said yesterday in the interview that he lost a star before he "retired" probably because he was vocal in saying we didn't have enough troops over there. He also said he didn't expect active generals to comment because... ah hell, now I can't remember, I think he said something along the lines of "the military doesn't do that."

But the rebelling is apparently going on, albeit quietly. Seymour Hersh was on Fresh Air the other day. Said his New Yorker story about the plan to bomb Iran was leaked to him by active duty generals who are balking at the "nuclear option".

Thanks for the link to the Klein book. I'll hunt for it at the library.

[discreet_chaos]

One does have to consider that prior to 9/11, when Rumsfeld was trying to "reinvent" the military into smaller, quicker-reacting strike forces, he made enemies among the brass and there were cover articles that would contrast him with Colin Powell. At the time, Powell was being touted as the model of good cabinet secretary who was respected, while questions swirled about whether Rummy was effective and if his days in office were numbered. What a difference, a couple of years make