(Long perhaps, but please read, skim, or just save for future reference. And do add to this compendium, from what you’ve seen or read already, or what you see and read the rest of this week.)
By Thursday, six US generals had called for Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld’s firing or resignation.
- Retired Major General Charles Swannack, who led the 82nd Airborne Division in Iraq, said Rumsfeld "micromanaged the generals who are leading our forces".
- Retired Major General John Riggs cited the “arrogance” of civilian leadership under Rumsfeld, saying, "They only need the military advice when it satisfies their agenda. I think that's a mistake, and that's why I think he should resign.”
- Major General John Batiste, who led the 1st Infantry Division in Iraq and was an aide to Paul Wolfowitz, said, "We need leadership up there that respects the military as they expect the military to respect them. And the leadership needs to understand teamwork.”
- Major General Paul Eaton, who led Iraqi troop training until 2004, wrote, "Rumsfeld has put the Pentagon at the mercy of his ego, his Cold Warrior's view of the world and his unrealistic confidence in technology to replace manpower."
- General Anthony Zinni, former commander of CentCom, said, “There's a series of disastrous mistakes. We just heard the secretary of state say these were tactical mistakes. These were not tactical mistakes. These were strategic mistakes, mistakes of policies made back here.”
- Marine Lt. General Gregory Newbold, former director of operations for the Joint Chiefs of Staff, wrote, “The troops in the Middle East have performed their duty. Now we need people in Washington who can construct a unified strategy worthy of them.”
(And of course, Four-Star army General Wesley Clark, Supreme Allied Commander of NATO in the Balkans, is now said to have “joined” these generals – although he’s been outspoken in his criticism of Rumsfeld for years, calling for his ouster and pointing out repeatedly that the “buck stops” with the president.)
What’s an administration up to their eyeballs in failure and incompetence to do? How can they “swiftboat” this much brass, all at once? It has to be handled deftly. Let the rightwing bloggers play “gotcha,” while the big guns read from the script.
The mission? To paint these generals as whining wimps. Yes – decorated, heroic, accomplished, career military whining wimps, overcome by the greatness of Don Rumsfeld.
The tactics?
Spin: 1. It’s
routine – happens all the time.
2. Rumsfeld is a
successful, effective "CEO." 3. One must be both
prepared and brave enough to
"push back" and not to be
intimidated by how
tough he is.
4. It’s not about incompetence or failed policy; it’s just about
personalities and style. 5. These are
“challenging” times. (A new term that must have done well in focus groups.) Generals need to understand that.
Tough sell? Watch and learn.
DAY ONE: Thursday Trot out Marine Lt. General Michael DeLong.
“Dealing with Secretary Rumsfeld is like dealing with a CEO," he told CNN. "When you walk in to him, you've got to be prepared. You've got to know what you're talking about. If you don't, you're summarily dismissed. But that's the way it is, and he's effective."“Routine” talking point from McClellan:
"We are a nation at war and we are a nation that is going through a military transformation. Those are issues that tend to generate debate and disagreement and we recognize that," McClellan said.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/04/13/AR2006041300995.htmlAnd remember, it's challenging.
MR. McCLELLAN: The President believes Secretary Rumsfeld is doing a very fine job during a
challenging period in our nation's history.
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2006/04/20060413-3.htmlDAY TWO: FridayTrot out the preznit (and push the term “Commander in Chief,” which suddenly crops up repeatedly in articles on the issue).
"Earlier today I spoke with Don Rumsfeld about ongoing military operations in the global war on terror. I reiterated my strong support for his leadership during this historic and challenging time for our nation," said Bush…
(snip)
Asked why Bush felt the need to issue the statement, White House chief of staff Andy Card told Reuters: "The secretary of defense is being challenged and he is doing a great job, and the president said he is doing a great job."http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=domesticNews&storyid=2006-04-14T192051Z_01_WAT005310_RTRUKOC_0_US-BUSH-RUMSFELD.xmlNext, find another general – heck, any general! – to help the spin.
GENERAL JOHN JUMPER (RET.), U.S. AIR FORCE: Secretary Rumsfeld, as we all know, you especially in the press know, is no shrinking violet.
And there are a couple things about the secretary that I learned over time. One is that, when you go before him, you better have your duffel bag full of facts and be ready to -- to present your case in a factual manner. And the second is that, if he doesn't agree with you or pushes back and pushes on you, you need to be ready to push back.
COOPER: It doesn't sound, though, General Jumper, that the criticism from -- from these other generals is that, you know, they -- they were shocked that he's not a shrinking violet.
I think the -- the criticism, certainly, that comes out of "Cobra II," for instance, seems to be, well, it -- it's all well to -- that you have got to bring your -- you know, a bag full of facts with you to the table. I think the criticism of Secretary Rumsfeld is, he has got his own bag, and -- and -- and he's pulling his own stuff out of there, and that's what he's going with, and he's trying to get everyone else to go along with what...
JUMPER: No.
COOPER: ... is in his bag.
JUMPER: But you -- you got to be ready to push back, Anderson. And I -- if -- you can talk to Pete Pace or Dick Myers, and there have been plenty of occasions where the secretary has changed his mind. (Oh yeah, Pete Pace and Dicky Myers.)
http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0604/14/acd.01.htmlFinally, trot out the ace-in-the-hole, Tommy Franks. Knee-deep in the very problems these generals are criticizing, he’s got a CYA problem of his own here. Chris Matthews is the go-to guy.
Routine:FRANKS: I think any time that you have as much going on during wartime as we have right now in Iraq, you're going to find people who are going to be calling for shuffling cabinet.Style:FRANKS: It's—I said in my book that Don Rumsfeld has a very interesting management style. He holds everything very close to himself; he's a contrarian. I know very few military officers who have ever given him a briefing or given him information and had him immediately say, oh, gosh, that's a great idea, I really love that.
That's not the way Don Rumsfeld does business. And so from that point of view, the point of view of a guy who is a pretty successful civilian CEO, a pretty successful secretary of defense, at a time when our country is at war, he steps up and he puts people through their paces.
Now, it is not a thing that very many people who have spent the last 30 years of their life having people listen to them—I'm talking about the generals— it's a pretty hard thing to sit there and find yourself in a pretty serious hardball dialogue with a senior civilian. (Too hard for these wimpy generals.)
Personalities:I think, Chris, you will find personalities that get along and you find personalities that do not get along. My personal appreciation was that the personalities of Rick Shinseki, a friend of mine, and Don Rumsfeld, a friend of mine, were not exactly—well, I'll describe it this way. It was sort of like oil and water…http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12354723/DAY THREE: SaturdaySudden crickets! It seems they were reading newspaper accounts of Friday, regrouping, planting scripts, and of course, writing their special “memo” for the next day.
(Check out the day on CNN – no mention…)
http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/2006.04.15.htmlDAY FOUR: Sunday. The guns start firing. The memo of talking points gets out there.
Trot out Myers, again, and emphasize the word “intimidate.” The AP puts out an article that seems designed to use the word “intimidate” as often as possible (subtext: “Rumsfeld never intimidated them; wonder why they felt so intimidated?”). The story's no longer about the generals' actual words; it's that “some have suggested” they were intimidated. (Of COURSE he listened! Of COURSE they could tell him everything they believed, and if they didn’t, well then, they should be shot, that’s all.)
Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld did not intimidate members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff during planning of the Iraq war as some retired generals have charged, a former chairman said Sunday.
(snip)
"We gave him our best military advice and I think that's what we're obligated to do," Myers said on "This Week" on ABC. "If we don't do that, we should be shot."
A half-dozen retired generals have called for Rumsfeld's ouster, citing mistakes in the conduct of the war in Iraq. Some have suggested that intimidation by Rumsfeld kept military leaders quiet even when they thought policies were flawed.
"You'd have to believe that everybody in the chain of command is intimidated, and I don't believe that," Myers said.http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2006/04/16/national/w154408D88.DTLDAY FIVE: MondayNow the big ammo comes out.
As a warm-up, Michael DeLong is back, in morning articles heralding the “Two Generals” (Count ‘em! Two!) who’ve now come out to support Rumsfeld! Uh, oops – it’s just the same guys from last week… But by now, all the talking points are clear.
"His management style is a tough management style," DeLong said on NBC's "Today" show. "He's tough to work with. He is a micromanager, but he's very effective. He's very competent but very dogmatic and tough when he deals with people."http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/politics/060417a_wire.aspTrot out Rummy himself, touting the
“routine” line with Rush Limbaugh, while implying the generals are ignorant of warfare:
"I guess only someone who's rooted in the history of our country, I think, could accept the kinds of comments that are being made," he said, according to a transcript of the interview on Limbaugh's Web site. "And if we recognize that the same kinds of criticism that occurred in the Revolutionary War and World War I and World War II and the Korean War, Vietnam War, it's not new. There have always been people who have opposed wars."
Rumsfeld added: "Wars are terrible things." Decorated generals just don't understand these things!
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/04/17/AR2006041701108.htmlAnd, the WORST OF THE WORST (at least so far): an outrageous Op-Ed piece in the Wall Street Journal “by” (or at least signed by) Lt. Gen. John Crosby, retired Lt. Gen. Thomas McInerney, retired Maj. Gen. Buron Moore, and and retired Maj. Gen Paul Vallely, including this gem:
"It unfortunately appears that two of the retired generals (Messrs. Zinni and Newbold) do not understand the true nature of this radical ideology, Islamic extremism, and why we fight in Iraq. We suggest they listen to the tapes of United 93."http://edition.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/04/17/rumsfeld/Wonder how they came up with that?
The defense is part of an aggressive Pentagon pushback against the retired generals who have called for Rumsfeld's resignation. To rebut the detractors, four retired generals were quoted in today's Wall Street Journal as saying that Rumsfeld is "arguably one of the most effective secretaries of defense our nation has ever had."
The article echoed almost word for word the arguments made in a recent Pentagon talking points memo listing the exact number of meetings Rumsfeld had last year with senior military commanders and the chiefs of the military services.http://www.abcnews.go.com/WNT/story?id=1852188&page=1Just ONE more step: Have the White House refer to the Wall St. Journal Op-Ed. That’s right – the White House puts out a memo, they get four guys to echo it “almost word for word,” then they echo their OWN SPIN by referring to it in a White House press briefing. Plus, they've put out Myers, Franks, and DeLong, and cite them. Bases covered. Smooth, huh?MR. McCLELLAN: No, what the President did on Friday was make a strong statement reiterating his full support for Secretary Rumsfeld. He talked about how Secretary Rumsfeld's energetic and steady leadership is exactly what is needed at this time. And there have been a number of generals that I think you've heard from expressing very similar views, generals that have worked very closely with Secretary Rumsfeld.
General Myers has spoken about his deep trust for Secretary Rumsfeld and his leadership and his deep respect for his leadership. General Franks, who was head of Central Command, during the lead-up into Iraq, and for a time period thereafter, has spoken out in strong support of Secretary Rumsfeld; General DeLong. So you've had a number of people who've talked about him. In fact, you had several generals who signed a piece in The Wall Street Journal this morning talking about how military leaders have been very involved to an "unprecedented degree," in their words, in every decision-making process. And they went on to express their strong support for Secretary Rumsfeld's leadership...http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2006/04/20060417-3.htmlOh, and in case you forgot, it’s challenging. (From the briefing above…)
MR. McCLELLAN: … The President has tasked Secretary Rumsfeld and our military commanders with some difficult challenges. And they are rising to meet those challenges. This is a difficult and challenging period in which we are in. ...
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