Maj.Gen.Batiste:*did not tell the American people truth for fear of losing

[dajoki]

WP
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/25/AR2006092500731.html

Three Retired Officers Demand Rumsfeld's Resignation

By William Branigin
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, September 25, 2006; 5:14 PM

Three retired military officers who served in Iraq called today for the resignation of Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, telling a Democratic "oversight hearing" on Capitol Hill that the Pentagon chief bungled planning for the U.S. invasion, dismissed the prospect of an insurgency and sent American troops into the fray with inadequate equipment.

The testimony by the three --two retired Army major generals and a former Marine colonel -- came a day after disclosure of a classified intelligence assessment that concluded the war in Iraq has fueled recruitment of violent Islamic extremists, helping to create a new generation of potential terrorists around the world and worsening the U.S. position.

In testimony before the Democratic Policy Committee today, retired Maj. Gen. John R.S. Batiste, who commanded the 1st Infantry Division in Iraq in 2004 and 2005 and served as a senior military assistant to former deputy defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, charged that Rumsfeld and others in the Bush administration "did not tell the American people the truth for fear of losing support for the war in Iraq."

He told the committee, "If we had seriously laid out and considered the full range of requirements for the war in Iraq, we would likely have taken a different course of action that would have maintained a clear focus on our main effort in Afghanistan, not fueled Islamic fundamentalism across the globe, and not created more enemies than there were insurgents."

Joining his call for Rumsfeld to resign were retired Army Maj. Gen. Paul D. Eaton, who was responsible for training Iraq's military and police in 2003 and 2004, and retired Marine Col. Thomas X. Hammes, who served in Iraq in 2004 and helped establish bases for the reconstituted Iraqi armed forces.

[babylonsister]

1. Between Clinton, the generals, the NIE, KO-the perfect storm? nt

[C_U_L8R]

2. oh it's just beginning

just wait until October... the pukes won't know what hit em

[babylonsister]

3. You think? The October surprise could be real? nt

[C_U_L8R]

5. We are the surprise

believe it

[dajoki]

4. I'll believe it when I see it...

They have a way of getting away with everything.

[democrank]

6. Time for Junior to hand out a few more medals.

To Rummy. Heckuva job!

[dajoki]

14. He may as well give...

himself a pat on the back.

[Ilsa]

7. I wish I'd have given one of my kids that middle name that starts

with X. I guess it is Xavier. Cool.

Okay, back on subject...

I figure we'll have another bio-terror alert before the election to scare us into voting GOP or not at all. They'll tell us all of the machines are laced with transdermal poison or some shit.

[tridim]

8. So has any news outlet bothered to mention this huge news?

Besides KO of course.

[gratuitous]

9. Politicizing the war on terror?

Oh, say it isn't so, Mr. Batiste. And yet you continued to serve, continued to draw your paycheck, continued to build your pension on the blood and the bones of your men and the people of Iraq. Thank you ever so much for your service, you putrid piece of human scum. If you want to expiate your transgression, I for one want to see some atonement. What will you do to make amends, Mr. Batiste?

[indepat]

10. How could a pre-emptive war and occupation not fuel recruitment

of violent extremists considering the extremeness of bombardment, invasion, and occupation? Surely even idiots and fools should realize this.

[kentuck]

11. "Fear of losing support for the war in Iraq" or....

fear of losing the election at home??

[dajoki]

13. there ya go n/t

[Supersedeas]

12. nothing to see here...did ya hear about tickle me elmo and low gas prices