Posted on 09/25/2006 6:38:12 PM PDT by John Carey
Three retired U.S. Army Officers address a congressional committee on the war in Iraq in starkly harsh words Monday.
“I believe that Secretary Rumsfeld and others in the administration did not tell the American people the truth for fear of losing support for the war in Iraq,” retired Maj. Gen. John R. S. Batiste told a forum conducted by Senate Democrats.
A second military leader, also a retired two-star general, Maj. Gen. Paul Eaton, assessed Rumsfeld as “incompetent strategically, operationally and tactically.”
A third officer, retired Col. Paul X. Hammes, joined Batiste and Eaton in testimony before the Democratic Policy Committee of the U.S. Senate. The unusual location was chosen, Democrats said, because the Republican leadership in the Senate has not permitted thorough oversight of the war in Iraq from the Senate Armed Services Committee. Chairman Byron Dorgan (D-ND) said majority Republicans had failed to conduct hearings on the issue, adding, “if they won’t … we will.”
All three officers who testified served in Iraq, and Batiste also was senior military assistant to then-Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz.
Batiste, who commanded the Army’s 1st Infantry Division in Iraq, also blamed Congress for failing to ask “the tough questions.”
He said Rumsfeld at one point threatened to fire the next person who mentioned the need for a postwar plan in Iraq.
“Mr. Rumsfeld and his immediate team must be replaced or we will see two more years of extraordinarily bad decision-making,” General Eaton said.
(Excerpt) Read more at johnib.wordpress.com ...
You are starting to remind me of churchillbuff.
To hell with these hacks.
Who ever came up with the phrase "armed chair Generals" is a genius. This article illustrates this very well.
Comments from "Retired" politicians (retired military are essentially just that) is old school media nonsense.
Who did they work for, what is their political affiliations and to whom do their monetary contributions flow?
What is at stake for them if the parties they complain about leave office?
Agendas; follow the money.
Was Joe Wilson there?????
It might even be him. With so many people becoming aware of his disruption he might need the new handle
John, It seems you post here to try to get more hits on your blog. I could be wrong, but that is the way it seems.
REALLY funny that the above article is written by the same person who just posted a complete ad hominen attack on Secretary of Defense Rumsfield.
Restore Civility? You first.
Same sour bent to the articles.
Hell, pat buchanan get's better percentages then that when he runs for president.
The article is deliberately misleading - the panel was composed entirely of Democrats, so no general was testifying to "Congress."
It was no "congressional committee."
John Carey is a blog pimp.
Two 2-star generals and a colonel. Is that all they could come up with? In the general ranks, a 2-star is like the non-comm who never gets promoted beyond staff sergeant. They are all, at some level, a non-hacker.
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