RUMSFELD UNDER FIRE(Wesley Clark has accused Rumsfeld of putting troops at risk )

SKY NEWS ^ | 03/26/2003 | SKYNEWS

[KQQL]

The former supreme allied commander of Nato has accused US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld of putting allied troops at risk through poor planning.

Wesley Clark said Mr Rumsfeld's insistence on a smaller invasion force had left troops vulnerable and the 300-mile oil supply line between Kuwait and Basra open to guerilla attack.

Troops had been tied up in "messy fighting" around Nasiriyah and Baghdad, he said, leading to "logistics problems".

He added that hopes of a quick victory spurred by a popular revolt against Saddam had been dashed.

"The simple fact is that the liberation didn't quite occur. They didn't rise up."

Other war veterans have also spoken out against the early stages of war planning.

Miscalculations

Ralph Peters, a military scientist and former Army officer, wrote in the Washington Post that a coalition victory would be achieved "despite serious strategic miscalculations by the office of the Defence Secretary".

The "shock and awe" strategy of aerial bombardment had failed to shatter the will of Saddam's regime, he said, and if anything had encouraged greater resistance.

"It delayed essential attacks on Iraq's military capabilities," said Mr Peters. "This encouraged at least some Iraqis in uniform to believe they had a chance to fight and win.

"Now our forces advancing on Baghdad face the possibility of more serious combat than would otherwise have been the case."

Coalition commander General Tommy Franks's draft invasion plan proposed using four or five heavy divisions moving slowly towards Baghdad.

New warfare

Mr Rumsfeld is said to have rejected this, complaining that it was too similar to the strategy used in the 1991 Gulf War. Instead he insisted on a smaller, lighter force relying heavily on special forces and air power.

Retired US Army General Barry McCaffrey, commander of the 24th Infantry Division 12 years ago, said Mr Rumsfeld had ignored warnings that he was underestimating the number of troops needed.

"I think he thought these were generals with feet planted in World War Two who didn't understand the new way of warfare," he said.

"If the Iraqis actually fight it's going to be brutal, dangerous work and we could take a couple to 3,000 casualties."

Mr Rumsfeld insisted his strategy was working.

"It's a good plan everybody agrees to, and it is a plan that in four and a half or five days has moved ground forces to within a short distance of Baghdad."

[chnsmok]

White House sources?

[montag813]

Did anyone see Brit's show Wed nite? The last 10 minutes showed a LIVE cutaway to Rummy and Gen. Myers answering questions after emerging from a long meeting with Senators. Rummy looked drained and cowed and deferred most of the questions to Myers. He was a totally different man from the one who reigned supreme over press conferences since 9/11. I despise Wesley Clark, who butchered 4,000 Serb civilians in support of the gangster Kosovars. But McCaffrey is straight up and if sources are correct Rummy may be getting quite an earful in the halls of power.

[Cold Heat]

Ok, now don't y'all get going again!:-)

[TLBSHOW]

Russia is faking it. I am talking Russia not the little countries you just named. Yes I believe it.

[Howlin]

I'm not "going" anywhere. I just wanted to know if he believed the Soviet Union faked their downfall.

[TLBSHOW]

Sometimes you do sometimes you don't. :>)

[Mr. Mojo]

This is NOT proceeding as to the original plan

The original plan most likely was/is a highly flexible one.

[TLBSHOW]

We won't as there is no proving or not proving this one in the course of the evening.

[Howlin]

Best not start saying I'm a liar again; we've been through that before. And you lose every single time.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/875633/posts?page=94#94

[Canticle_of_Deborah]

I can't remember if it was today's press conference or yesterday. A reporter asked him a question along the lines of "is the war going badly", "are there enough troops there", etc. Rummy got annoyed and said there were military analysts going on all the television shows discussing plans they knew nothing about. He emphasized that everything is going as well as or better than expected. It was amusing to watch.

[Howlin]

I thought it was interesting that it was reported by more than one source today that Bush had in his speech today that "the war was going far better than we expected," but he crossed that out. I suspect he didn't want to give too much away.

[Cold Heat]

LOL! BWAAAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAAH!

i CAN'T STAND IT!..............................................................................................................................

[montag813]

and Turkey played a big role in our problems.

Blame the Pussy Powell for that. If he hadnt insisted (upon threat of resignation, reportedly) upon giving the U.N./French forces 9 months to gather strength Turkey would have been with us all the way.

[Howlin]

It really is insane, isn't it? :-)

[Grampa Dave]

You are not disagreeing. You are attacking our president, our SOD and using reprehensible Clintoon A$$holes as your center pieces.

When a so called conservative cites Clitoonian A$$holes, Reuters, NY Slimes or ABCNNBCBS as their center pieces, they are not conservatives.

I vowed after people like you cost us the Viet Nam war, that the negative bs would be challenged in future wars.

The Scott Ritters pretending to be conservatives are over FR the past two days with their gloom and doom and ad hominum attacks on our military leaders.

The reason why, we are winning this war, and the last thing they want is America to win this war.

[Howlin]

(upon threat of resignation, reportedly)

By who?

[Mo1]

Did I miss anything?

[TLBSHOW]

Here is the deal you don't answer the question you are talking the left liberal democrat talking points. Really Simple.

[Cold Heat]

Nothing new!:-)

[Mo1]

HuH?? .. The Turks wanted us to give them the Kurds on a silver platter .. we said no and they got mad