Grumbling Swells on Rumsfeld's Right Flank

[Khephra]

Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld's terse response last week to a National Guardsman's concerns about a lack of battle armor in Iraq has set off a sharp round of fresh criticism of him from some fellow Bush supporters, including prominent Republican senators, a retired general and a leading intellectual architect of the war.

"I think there are increasing concerns about the secretary's leadership of the war, the repeated failures to predict the strengths of the insurgency, the lack of essential safety equipment for our troops, the reluctance to expand the number of troops," Senator Susan Collins of Maine said Wednesday.

Ms. Collins, a member of the Armed Services Committee and a leader in the recent successful fight to pass a bill overhauling intelligence-gathering, over the objections of some in the Pentagon, added that "all of those are factors that are causing people to raise more questions to the secretary."

The sharp comments by Ms. Collins, together with other recent statements Senator John McCain of Arizona, Senator Chuck Hagel of Nebraska and Gen. H. Norman Schwarzkopf, who led American forces in the Persian Gulf war in 1991 and, after his retirement, twice campaigned for President Bush, suggested that the ground might well be shifting a bit under Mr. Rumsfeld.

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/16/politics/16rumsfeld.html

[Florida_Geek]

1. move along,,, the Michael Jackson trial it up ...

:(

[Spinzonner]

4. How dare you Dis the Robert Blake trial

[Florida_Geek]

16. Kiddlie porn beats out some actress

:(

[Skittles]

2. ya THINK, SUSAN?????????????????????

did not 1300 SOLDIER DEATHS GIVE YOU A F***ING CLUE?????????????????

[HysteryDiagnosis]

3. She has no clue.... I wonder if she would like to buy a clue. n/t

[radfringe]

5. I KNOW WHO DID IT!

It was Secretary Rumsfeld in the Press Room with a foot in his mouth.

Colonel Mustard said he fully supports Rumsfeld and has every confidence that the foot wasn't loaded

[Disturbed]

6. But...The Glorious Leader....

said Rummy is doing a tremendous job. The troops should stop being anti-American and die and be maimed without complaint.

[Skittles]

7. that bastard Bush is hanging medals on incompetent people

and promoting others. He is desperately trying to revise history but in the end he will not be able to succeed, not even with the help of the corporate media. That stupid bastard is juggling WAY too many balls now.

[HysteryDiagnosis]

9. At least they are not yours or mine. n/t

[Dem2theMax]

13. Or his.

He doesn't have any. :evilgrin:

[Supersedeas]

18. maybe not the brightest, but he does have plenty of hands in the till

the right wing kooks managed to steal the election in Ohio, and thus reinstalled el Dub into office by very slim margins...yet the media call it a MANDATE a MANDATE a MANDATE a MANDATE for the 51% of voters whose vote was counted maybe not so accurately...this makes a corporate Media mandate.

[0007]

8. If ya gotta go into battle naked with only a finger nail file,

so be it! Rummy knows his shit and junior backs Rummy 110%. What's wrong with all these kinky do gooders?

[Kolesar]

10. GOPs are trying to act like "Moderates"

They know that they will have to stand for election eventually. This is akin to Collins & Voinovich insisting on a $350M tax cut instead of $700M.

[dbt]

12. Excellent point about the elections, TBA!

We oughta be hearing some carping from the Hou$e of Repre$entative$ pretty soon now, considering that a good few of those members will be up in ought-six.

The bad news for them is, that leaves bu$h two years to make an even bigger mess of things.

:evilgrin:
dbt

[Judi Lynn]

11. Oh, God. I never knew he was working on getting us into war in 1997

Just found this stupid Rumsfeld time-line. complimentary, of course,which has the following entry:

The Rumsfeld Commission


In 1997, Congress creates a commission to investigate U.S. intelligence reports concerning ballistic missile threats and names Don Rumsfeld its chairman. One of the nine members of the commission is Paul Wolfowitz, who had worked with Rumsfeld on the Dole campaign and on Plan B, a missile commission that studied Soviet Power in the 1970s, when Rumsfeld was secretary of defense.

The Rumsfeld Commission's report, released in July 1998, finds that the risk of a missile attack against the U.S. is greater than the intelligence agencies had reported. The report claims that some countries will be able to "inflict major destruction" on the U.S. within five years of deciding to do so. It goes on to name three countries in particular - Iran, Iraq and North Korea - as the countries most dangerous to U.S. safety because they appear to be developing nuclear weapons.
(snip/...)

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/pentagon/etc/cronfeld.html

[Ilsa]

20. Hey, thanks, Judi Lynn, I have seen alot of the Frontline

programs going back to The War Behind Closed Doors, but I didn't know about this one.

[chomskysright]

26. here's ptototype anti-rumsfeld letter to be sent out

Mr. Rumsfeld must go. Not later: NOW. He has absolutely no respect for the citizens of the USA, nor of the world.

He is wanted as a war criminal in Germany.

He signs letters to families of OUR dead soldiers with a computerized, automatic name-signing program.

He has refused us seeing the caskets of OUR dead.

He has been responsible for Iraqis being tortured. He is responsible for the torture which has taken place at Guantanamo Bay. These events did not happen randomly; they were ‘OK’d’ by the top brass.

More than 5500 American soldiers have deserted the Armed Forces. They are filling up the homeless shelters in Canada as well as the US.

There are more amputations associated with this war than any other.

OUR soldiers are not even accorded decent equipment. They ask questions about why they have to ‘make-do’ by digging for scrap metal in order to protect their vehicles in order that they not be blown to smithereens---or become amputees.

They are required to stay in Iraq past their ability to endure if some members of their company remain there.

THIS MUST STOP.

He has deeply offended many Americans: we want him OUT NOW.

[BiggJawn]

14. Lots of "critcism", but no calls for his nuts in a dish...

Pussy McCain is "angry", but won't call for Rumsferatu to go commit Hari-Kari, Stormin' Norman Pimple is "angry"...

Hell, I'm "angry", too. But I think Rumsferatu should be dragged in irons to The Hague and spend the rest of his miserable existence in Spandau Prison.

Fucking Ghoul!

[rodeodance]

15. the right needs to SCREAM!!!!!! --that might get some attention

[BiggJawn]

22. The Right has drunk the Kool-Aid.

Anything that's Okie-Dokie with the Boy King is just Hunkey-Dory with them. Gotta show support in this time of WAR, y'know....

FDR FIRED the Brass at Pearl.
Truman FIRED MacArthur.
Kennedy FIRED the dumbass responsible for the Bay of Pigs
LBJ FIRED some fuck-ups, too.

Dumbya gives HIS fuck-ups fucking MEDALS!!!!!

What's wrong with this picture?

[SKKY]

17. No Donald, that's not the light at the end of the tunnel you see...

...it's a train coming, and it's going to plow your ass over.

[quaoar]

19. Republican senators say they are shocked....

...shocked!!!! to discover that Rumsfeld has completely botched the war effort.

Someone at the White House better send another pitcher of Kool-Aid over to Capitol Hill pronto. The last one is starting to wear off.

[cybildisobedience]

21. does anyone think this isn't orchestrated?

I mean, really. ALL of SUDDEN, they're noticing that Rumsfield's incompetent?
What probably happened is that Rumsfield was finally exposed in a way that even the brain-dead, cowardly media couldn't ignore, a firestorm was ignited, and now he's a drag on the Bush administration.
So out march the so-called "mavericks" to criticize Rumsfield, who will suddenly discover that he can't do his job over the clamor, and he'll be forced to step down.
Bush won't admit anything, or accept responsibility for anything -- as usual.
And once again, the wet work is left to his minions.

[el_gato]

23. yes it's orchestrated

even those people asking him questions were planted

[cybildisobedience]

24. and now Lott is criticizing Rumsfield

Lott was in a position for do this way back in the beginning, when this ridiculous folly took root, but Rumsfield was fine back then.
Now, all of a sudden, none of these people with an ounce of courage find that they just can't abide by him.

[leesa]

25. Of course all these Republicans voted to cut benefits and supplies

over and over again for these soldiers. They also pushed hard the looting of our treasury by Halliburton and the rest of the corporate thugs so there was no money left for supplies.

[Erika]

27. I think its a plot to keep the heat off W.

First it was Ashcroft, now it's Rummy. It's just a set up.

[Barkley]

29. The reaction to Rumsfeld remarks parallel Trent Lotts' remarks on Thurman

Like Trent Lott, Rummy's remarks are symptomatic of something much deeper.

Eliminating Lott didn't bring about any great change in attitude or awareness about race. If anything it tended to give the false impression and over simplification that race problems lay in one man's statement.

[fishnfla]

28. some man holla that playa! eom

[snippy]

30. I think the White House is behind the attacks on Rumsfeld.

Since it is republican dogma that Bush has never made a mistake and is not responsible for the things he says or the decisions he makes, someone else must be responsible for the mess in Iraq. Since Cheney won't allow Bush to blame Cheney, Rummy is the fall guy. I think Bush will have Rumsfeld resign shortly after the Iraqi elections. Rumsfeld will be praised and probably receive a medal and some other grotesquely evil PNAC horror will be named to replace him. And the Next Bush War will proceed as scheduled.

[Vidar]

32. I'm really hoping you're wrong and this is a genuine palace coup.

[snippy]

33. I would prefer that too. n/t

[steely]

31. Maybe a case of the dogs piling on the rabit for the benefit of

their respective constituencies? Shallow bastards one and all.

[Mike Niendorff]

34. Am I the only one who's bothered by the direction of this?

Increasingly, what I'm hearing is that Rumsfeld's big failing isn't the war itself, but instead is simply "not enough troops". Meaning, of course, that the US military presence in the region should be expanded.

Try as I might, I just can't see this as progress in this debate. If anything, it's really just "phase 2". First, they got their foot in the door. Now, they're working their way further in, and framing it so you either support their plans for military escalation or you "don't support the troops".

The whole thing just smells disingenuous as hell, imho. Heads, they win; tails, we lose. Either you support Rumsfeld or you support military escalation in Iraq. Bad cop, good cop; good cop, bad cop. Oh, and what if you want our military OUT of Iraq? Well, sorry, the terms of the debate just don't allow for that position.


MDN

[snippy]

35. I agree that Bush is now selling the invasion of Iraq

as a good war poorly executed. However, it doesn't bother me because I think changing the tide of public opinion on a war is a painfully slow process. Every small piece of the truth persuades another small piece of the public.