In effect, President Bush just told the libs in the media to wipe the drool off their chins.
President Bush Expresses Full Support, Appreciation for Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld
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.
The Department of Defense has been tasked with many difficult missions. Upon assuming office, I asked Don to transform the largest department in our government. That kind of change is hard, but our Nation must have a military that is fully prepared to confront the dangerous threats of the 21st century. Don and our military commanders have also been tasked to take the fight to the enemy abroad on multiple fronts.
I have seen first-hand how Don relies upon our military commanders in the field and at the Pentagon to make decisions about how best to complete these missions. Secretary Rumsfeld's energetic and steady leadership is exactly what is needed at this critical period. He has my full support and deepest appreciation.
In other words, the lib media should stop wasting their time speculating that the musings of retired generals on book tours can influence the President.
Bush is in charge.
_______________________________
Update:
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Six retired generals have called for Rumsfeld to resign, accusing him of mishandling the Iraq war, ignoring advice of field commanders and having an arrogant management style.
Rumsfeld has rejected all such calls, while noting that Bush had twice turned down his offers to resign.
Meanwhile, in an interview aired Friday on Al-Arabiya television, Rumsfeld said he intended to continue serving.
"The fact that two or three or four retired people have different views, I respect their views," Rumsfeld said. "But obviously if, out of thousands and thousands of admirals and generals, if every time two or three people disagreed we changed the secretary of defense of the United States, it would be like a merry-go-round."
Six retired generals have called for Rumsfeld to resign, accusing him of mishandling the Iraq war, ignoring advice of field commanders and having an arrogant management style.
Rumsfeld has rejected all such calls, while noting that Bush had twice turned down his offers to resign.
Tom Raum, the writer of this hard news article did a little analysis, and assigned a motive to the announcement.
He speculates, "The timing of Bush's statement on Rumsfeld seemed designed to tamp down speculation, particularly in Sunday newspapers and on weekend television news shows, that Rumsfeld might be on his way out."
That will no doubt be the spin put on the President's by the lib media.
Brian Williams, most likely already in the make-up chair, is probably practicing his lines right now--
"The weakened, but stubborn, President Bush is struggling to keep Rummy around, heeding Cheney's advice."
"This embattled Administration is teetering on complete collapse."
"Blah, blah, blah."
2 comments:
Yeah, I saw yet another general in today's LA Times, "come out of the closet".
Here's one general who disagrees with those generals: http://radioblogger.com/#001538
excerpt...
HH: General, what do you make of the fact that in recent days, Major General John Batiste, and retired Marine Corps General Greg Newbold, Army Major General Paul Eaton, Marine Corps General Zinni have all spoken out against the Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld, and portions of the war. Are you surprised by this?
TM: Well, I don't know. I haven't heard Batiste. I've heard Zinni's comments, or read Zinni's comments. I've read Greg Newbold. I'm on a board with Greg. I'm somewhat surprised, but when I read their comments, I'm embarrassed for them. For instance, Zinni wants stability in the region. He says it's not an ideology we're fighting. Hugh, we are fighting an ideology as bad as Communism, Nazism and Facism. It's Islamic extremism. That is our problem there. If General Tony Zinni doesn't understand that, who I used to have great respect for, and he was the commander of Central Command, I think we're in deep trouble.
HH: You mentioned in the last segment, General, the nature of the 12th imam theology. Where did you...and I've been talking about that on this program for a long time. But is this generally known within the military what Ahmadinejead and some of his colleagues believe?
TM: Well, I hope it is. I mean, he talks about it. Ahmadinejead talks about it all the time, and how when he was at the U.N., he had that ray of white light around him. He talks about the 12th imam, and the Mahdi. So the fact is, is if they don't, I'm embarrassed for them.
HH: General Batiste said on CNN that he was struck by the, "lack of sacrifice and commitment on the part of the American people to the war. I think that our executive and legislative branches of government have a responsibility to mobilize this country for the war. They frankly have not done so. We're mortgaging our future, our children, $8-9 billion dollars a month." What do you think about...obviously, if we raise taxes, we can crush the economy that's paying for all this.
TM: Yeah, I don't think we need to raise taxes. My take is that what we need to do is devote more resources to defense, but let's give up some of these social programs that frankly are not being a great asset to us. Let's understand what works, and what doesn't. We're fighting this war at 3.7% of GDP. When I was in the military, when I first came in, we spent 11% of GDP. That was under President Eisenhower, and then President Kennedy. We are down at 3.7% of GDP. It's gone up a little bit. It got down to less than...under President Clinton, it got less than 3, about 2.9% of GDP.
HH: It is ridiculous. I agree with that. Now General, in your long career, obviously Iran was our ally, and now they're our deadly enemy. And you mention if we take out the regime, that you believe the Iranian people will welcome that. But a lot of people heard us say that we would be greeted a liberators, and my next guest, Christopher Hitchens, says we were in Iraq. Do you really believe the Persian, the Iranian people, will welcome the assistance of changing this regime? Or will they react as any nationalists would to having their country attacked?
TM: I think there'll be a combination. First of all, there are lots of dissidents, and lots of Iranians out here. 51% of the population, Hugh, in Iran are Persian. 24% are Azerbaijanian. 10% are Kurds. That's 85%. And then you have Arabs that are, say, 2-3%, and some Christians, and they even have a small number of Jews there. That fact is, is that...and 70% of the population is under the age of 30, and their unemployement rate is 16-20% at least. It could be 25. They have a problem. They're not creating jobs. They're throwing all these dollars into this nuclear program, and they're not creating jobs and helping the people. So I believe that on balance, there will be a significant number. Now, as you know...look, we did have people when we went into Iraq, that welcomed us. They really welcomed us. The fact was, is we didn't have a magic wand, and could turn the electricity on, which Saddam didn't develop, could create sewage systems. When I was over there in December and flying over Baghdad, I thought it had rained the night before. It wasn't rain. It was the sewage system emptying out into the streets. They've never had one. And so the fact is, is their infrastructure was a travesty. And all those things we weren't aware of. So over time, that has hurt, but look, I'll tell you, if you think morale's bad, morale's great for our troops. The morale that is bad is for the terrorists.
Like Rumsfeld said, "But obviously if, out of thousands and thousands of admirals and generals, if every time two or three people disagreed we changed the secretary of defense of the United States, it would be like a merry-go-round."
The General did a great job of putting Zinni in his place.
I'm somewhat surprised, but when I read their comments, I'm embarrassed for them.
I love it!
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