If Rumsfeld's so bad, why didn't generals resign?

Chicago Sun Times ^ | April 17, 2006 | BY THOMAS LIPSCOMB

[buck61]

Kind of gives a glimpse of the ideology of our congress critters.

[leadpenny]

Semantically you are correct, but that's it.

[buck61]

Guilt association?
Zinni was week in his command, he couldn't help him self, his former commander in chief trained him to be weak.

[ClaireSolt]

How do you know that he was not allowed to resign to save face? It is well known that wartime leadership requires different skills than being a peacetime general. The latter are promoted for political manuvering, and what these men are doing is all political. No surprise they were not needed in the WOT.

[.cnI redruM]

No, there's a much bigger difference than semantics. Resigning and publicly stating why you are resigning is laying it on the line. Just turning down a promotion and accepting a smaller retirement check is not a legitimate proxy.

This is particularly true if you later demand the immediate resignation of somebody else.

[A.A. Cunningham]

He had been rumored as possible Commandant of the Marine Corps material

An extremely remote possibility.

[Coop]

An extremely remote possibility.

I'm not arguing that. :-) Especially watching him in action now. But he did hold a high profile J-3 position (I think) on the Joint Staff.

[buck61]

I wouldn't care to go to IBM, EXXON, Mobil, GE, Westinghouse
are any other company and I would find many of these know it all generals. But we all know who holds the power as long as there is success in these corporations.
Rumsfeld will be known in history as one of the best military CEO America has ever had.
If I were him I would be very careful who else is lurking in the back ground, there will be others, Hillterbeast has found something to get her canines into for her campaign.

[Roccus]

Did any of the six get a 'bump' before retirement?

[A.A. Cunningham]

When Newbold refused to continue giving briefings to the press after being kidded by Rumsfeld and Myers about saying the Taliban had been eviscerated he showed his hand of being a thing skinned, immature, weasel. Any stock he had prior to that went right down the s****er.

[.cnI redruM]

That totally doesn't matter to me. If a person is going to ask for someone else's head on a silver platter, they had better offer their own necks up first or their credibility equals zero.

[Coop]

Bump? You mean a promotion? There's a service obligation if you accept a promotion (generally two years, although it might be more at the general/flag level).

[Coop]

When Newbold refused to continue giving briefings to the press after being kidded by Rumsfeld and Myers about saying the Taliban had been eviscerated he showed his hand of being a thing skinned, immature, weasel. Any stock he had prior to that went right down the s****er.

I remember reading about that, but do not recall it as it actually occurred. :-)

[leadpenny]

"Resigning and publicly stating why you are resigning is laying it on the line."

Now you're adding your own definition.

Nothing anywhere says you have to make a big noise when you leave. Actions are sometimes enough.

BTW, we don't know what any of these generals said to the Army CofS on their way out the door.

[trebb]

The ppor babies got their feelings and egos hurt when Rummy demanded they have their stuff togetehr when they went in to see him. They're used to trampling on subordinates, not having it done to them for being less than 100% competent.

[.cnI redruM]

If a person is going to ask for someone else's head on a silver platter, they had better offer their own necks up first or their credibility equals zero.

[Roccus]

IIRC Brit Hume yesterday mentioned that they did not get expected promotions and that this was mostly sour grapes.
IMO, if these officers felt at the time the way they say they feel now, they were derelict in not voicing their objections.

[.cnI redruM]

In the Army; certainly. He's attempted to reinvent that service's entire culture. No Old Boy network ever dies a peaceful death.

[Yasotay]

I am sure they did register their complaints through the Chain of Command just as I'm sure that the requests for more troops have been denied.

It is dangerous to have a person in charge who has quit not once but twice. Rumsfeld needs to be replaced.

[Suzy Quzy]

The Perfumed Princes are having their little hissy fits.

Admiral Zinni is an anti-Semite Democrat.....a real Israel hater.