Rumsfeld nemesis Shinseki to be named VA secretary

[usregimechange]

In this July 21, 2000 file photo, then Army Chief of Staff Gen. Eric Shinseki talks with reporters Pentagon in Washington. Democratic officials say President-elect Barack Obama has selected Shinseki to be the next Veterans Affairs secretary.
(AP Photo/Kamenko Pajic, File)


WASHINGTON – President-elect Barack Obama has chosen retired Gen. Eric K. Shinseki to be the next Veterans Affairs secretary, turning to a former Army chief of staff once vilified by the Bush administration for questioning its Iraq war strategy.

Obama will announce the selection of Shinseki, the first Army four-star general of Japanese-American ancestry, at a news conference Sunday in Chicago. He will be the first Asian-American to hold the post of Veterans Affairs secretary, adding to the growing diversity of Obama's Cabinet.

"I think that General Shinseki is exactly the right person who is going to be able to make sure that we honor our troops when they come home," Obama said in an interview with NBC's "Meet the Press" to be broadcast Sunday.

NBC released a transcript of the interview after The Associated Press reported that Shinseki was Obama's pick.

Shinseki's tenure as Army chief of staff from 1999 to 2003 was marked by constant tensions with Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, which boiled over in 2003 when Shinseki testified to Congress that it might take several hundred thousand U.S. troops to control Iraq after the invasion.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081207/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/obama_veterans_affairs


I know this is a dupe but I liked the headline, i.e. "Rumsfeld nemesis."

[lostnotforgotten]

1. The Old Adage - FY - Stronger Message To Follow - Surely Applies

eom

[BrklynLiberal]

2. So there!!

[Hekate]

3. I love the smell of Rumsfeld Nemesis in the morning. >deeeep breath

Congratulations to General Shinseki.

Hekate

[Jennicut]

4. I like this pick, take that Rummie.

[La Lioness Priyanka]

5. i think obama's picks so far have been brilliant and well deserved.

this one is especially well deserved!