Like it or not, Don Rumsfeld’s time as Secretary of Defense is running out. The real question is who will be next to step out of the shadows and denounce him. So far, six retired Generals (four Army and two Marines) have stepped up to the microphone to denounce Donald Rumsfeld as an incompetent, failed leader and the list is likely to get longer in the coming days. The list, so far, of retired Generals is impressive (for those non-military folk, a Brigadier General has one star, a Major General has two stars, a Lieutenant General has three stars, and a General has four stars; four stars outranks the others):
Lt. General Gregory Newbold, (Marine) retired director of operations at the Pentagon’s military joint staff;
Major General Paul D. Eaton (Army);
General Anthony Zinni (Marine) former Commander Central Command;
Major General John Batiste (Army);
Major General Charles Swannack (Army);
Major General John Riggs (Army)
Up to this point, President Bush could offer the lie that he was giving the military everything they asked for and no one challenged him. To quote Edgar Allen Poe, “nevermore”. The die is now cast for the Republican controlled Congress. The respective heads of the Armed Services Committees, Senator Warner and Congressman Duncan Hunter, now realize that a critical mass of generals has come forward and that Don Rumsfeld has suffered the parliamentary equivalent of a vote of no confidence.
Consider, for example, Lt. General Newbold. He was the J-3 for the Joint Chiefs of Staff. In other words, he was the top General with the specific responsibility for planning operations. You do not start a war without a plan. Although the responsibility for crafting the plan to invade Iraq fell specifically to CENTCOM, which was under the command of General Franks, General Newbold was in a position to monitor and comment on those plans. He can now appear before both the Senate and House Armed Services Committees and explain precisely how Don Rumsfeld and Paul Wolfowitz fiddled with the plan first developed by Generals Zinni and Peay (former Centcom Commanders) in the aftermath of the 1991 Gulf War and circumvented the recommendations of senior military officers.
This is not a simple case of the military trying to usurp or embarrass civilian leaders. The growing chorus of senior military officers recognize that if they do not speak out now that the debacle in Iraq could erode the publics’ confidence that military leaders, especially those in the Army and the Marines, and leave the military with a tarnished legacy like the aftermath of Vietnam.
Don Rumsfeld may want to stick it out, but stick a fork in him. His goose is cooked and his reign will soon be over.
……………………………………………………..
Larry C. Johnson is CEO and co-founder
of BERG Associates, LLC, an international business-consulting firm
that helps corporations and governments manage threats posed by
terrorism and money laundering. Mr. Johnson, who worked previously
with the Central Intelligence Agency and U.S. State Department’s
Office of Counter Terrorism (as a Deputy Director), is a recognized
expert in the fields of terrorism, aviation security, crisis and risk
management. Mr. Johnson has analyzed terrorist incidents for a variety
of media including the Jim Lehrer News Hour, National Public Radio,
ABC’s Nightline, NBC’s Today Show, the New York Times, CNN, Fox News,
and the BBC. Mr. Johnson has authored several articles for
publications, including Security Management Magazine, the New York
Times, and The Los Angeles Times. He has lectured on terrorism and
aviation security around the world. Further bio
details.
Personal Blog: No Quarter
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