I propose that all Democrats and moderate Republicans spend this holy weekend praying for the removal of Donald Rumsfeld. Let us urge our ministers and priests and rabbis to speak boldly from their pulpits, to implore their flocks to beg God almighty to intercede with his servant George Bush to fire this jackass Rumsfeld while America still has something left to defend ourselves with.
You've got to go back to the James Madison administration to find a War (Defense) Department as badly run as this one, and then Madison had to hire and fire two men who combined, barely equaled Rummy's arrogance and ignorance and incompetence.
First there was William Eustis, who promised the President and Congress to increase the size of the Army in preparation for a war everybody saw was coming. But Eustis couldn't bring himself to actually spend the money. If you ever wondered why Canada is not part of the United State you can thank Eustis' penny-pinching war plans. Madison finally fired him in 1813, and replaced him with John Armstrong, who confidently assured Madison that the Red Coats would never attack Washington, D.C. , and to prevent criticism of his military genius he made certain no defenses were prepared. Madison took time away from evacuating the White House to fire Armstrong's ass.
Are we going to have to wait for the capital dome to start smoldering again before we get rid of Rummy and his little band of neo-con incompetents?
Given the long lead time to build an effective military it is fair to worry just how far into the future the long arm of Rummy's incompetence will reach. On the DOD website, the Army lays out its "core competency" as to "Train and Equip soldiers, and grow leaders", and since in the future, "We must assume sustained operations will be the norm, not the exception", the depth and training of the Army will be paramount to National Defense.
But under Rummy's rule, according to the Washington Post of February 12, 2006, "By 2007, the Army projects it will be short 3,500 (7%) active-duty officers, primarily captains and majors,...with shortages rising to 15% to 50% for dozens of specific ranks and skills...And in another sign of the pressing demand for officers, the Army is recalling hundreds of officers from civilian life, ...sparking protests from some who have already served in Iraq." The Pentagon has even been reduced to implementing a "Blue to Green" program, of recalling retired Air Force, Navy and Marine officers and then transferring them to the Army.
And, in addition, this year, again, the Army will be 7,000 soldiers short on their already reduced recruitment goal of 80,000.
It is against this backdrop that five retired general field and staff officers have come out calling for Rumsfeld's removal. These men are desperate and dedicated to their institutions, while Rummy's arrogance and ignorance is widely recognized throughout the profession.
In a paper entitled, "Over by Christmas; Campaigning, Delusions and Force Requirements", published by the Institute of Land Warfare Journal, and available on the U.S. Army web site, Major General J.B.A. Baily, British Army Ret., writes, "...Perhaps more worrying was the inclination to deny, even in October 2003, that the coalition faced an insurgency, for this would have challenged some of the premises of the campaign. If Iraq had been "liberated" why should there be resistance; and if large numbers of troops were indeed required to counter some insurgency, and if Iraq oil could not finance Iraq's reconstruction, then the prospectus upon which the campaign was mounted might be seen as questionable."
"The flawed political-military psychology....confronts us as a cautionary tale, and evidence of recent experience is far from ambiguous....when confronted by obvious but culturally unpalatable conclusions, many armies will seek refuge in more attractive alternatives, however dysfunctional....the delusion that campaigns can indeed be short, decisive, high-tech and cheap; and that such campaigns require armies designed and trained to fight these, rather than the more obvious and likely, but unpalatable, alternatives..."
Rummy is also currently engaged in the "greatest reconfiguring of the U.S. Military since World War Two". Are we to assume that he is any more competent at planning the next war than he has been in planning and implementing the current one? It is as if Secretary Eustis and Armstrong were allowed together to redesign the U.S. Army to fit their failed policies and budget cutting tendencies.
The slightly less than shinning example for the U.S. military at the moment is former Chief of Staff (1964 - 1968) four star General Harold K. Johnson. To quote from the military correspondent for Knight Ridder, Joe Galloway, ".... early in July 1965 President Lyndon B. Johnson ordered the 1st. Cavalry Division (airmobile) and other sizeable units to deploy to South Vietnam in a major escalation of the war. What he refused to do was follow the advice of his military commanders and declare a national emergency that would freeze discharges of all soldiers...President Johnson wanted to fight Vietnam on the cheap and quiet....So he would send off Army units seriously under strength, leaving behind the best-trained soldiers whose enlistments or draft tours were near an end.
"...Gen. Johnson was furious. He summoned his car and on the way to the White House he removed the eight stars from his shoulders. But...just short of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue he order the driver to turn around...(thinking) if he resigned in protest LBJ would replace him in a matter of hours with someone much worse or more pliable... Not long before he died in the fall of 1983 , General Johnson...told (a) friend, "I count that as the greatest moral failure of my life. I should have resigned and fought the decision."
Some fifty-five thousand Americans died in part because, General Johnson found a perfectly logical reason not to resign in protest. And after pledging to themselves and their country that they would never allow another Vietnam to happen, it has happened. In the words of one staff officer,until now, "today's officers are willing to sacrifice their lives for their country but not their careers."
But things have gotten so desperate within the U.S. Military that these officers have finally reached the point of making that sacrifice for the good of their country. And now we will see if Republicans are loyal to their nation or party first. Now we will see if Democrats are willing to forgo the temptation to use Rummy to gain at the ballot box, rather than get rid of him now, in the name of national defense.
We need to show support for these brave men and women in uniform by providing them with, if not the best leadership available at least a leadership they can respect, a leadership that will respect them and that will stop shooting them and itself in the foot
And what better time to offer them salvation than during Passover/Easter?