McCain: Rumsfeld is one of the worst defense secretaries

http://edition.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/02/19/mccain.ap/index.html ^

[sine_nomine]

More like ranking RINO. I see nothing maverick about McCain.

[beckaz]

I am not a McCain fan, but I agree with him on this one.

The war was mismanaged from the fall of Baghdad on. Responsibility goes from the top guy Bush, to Rumsfeld to Bremmer to Casey and Abi Zaid.

The naysayers (or yea-sayers here) would have us believe that things were hunky-dory and the need for change only became apparent 2 days after the election? Baloney!

Look at the Iranian weapons thing today, for crying out loud.

Everybody knew that Iran was killing/helping-kill our soldiers from back in 2003-2004. The Prez and his guys are addressing it now??

McCain has not wavered on this one and asked for change and more troop-strength from way back. I like Rumsfeld and he served our country well, but not in his last stint at defense.


Blast away.

[Loyal Buckeye]

McCain's criticism of Rummy tells me that Rudy is bumping him from receiving any free media publicity.

[KC_Conspirator]

With this last statement, any hope of me and some of the base just went into the trash.

[jess35]

McCain isn't fit to serve in the US Senate....and we all know how low the bar is set for that particular organization.

[jess35]

And your credentials are.....?

It's very easy to look at the past and tell someone what they should have done. It doesn't take a genius or a master strategist to come up with a plan when you know exactly what is going to happen. The reality is this is not a movie, a book or a video game. You have no idea what information and level of intelligence the decision makers were privy to when they were making the call. All you have is an opinion that things should have been done differently based on CURRENT INFORMATION.

[Jake The Goose]

Well said.

The bar is a curb.

[Past Your Eyes]

Just what do you suppose was his purpose in saying it? The man continues to exhibit poor overall judgement and is not at all deserving of support. Let the Democrats be the ones who look stupid.

Whether he believes it (he probably does) and whether it's true (entirely subjective at this point in history) doesn't mean he has to blurt it out. Discretion is not his close acquaintance.

[stm]

Sorry jackass, but Robert McNamara already has that position locked up. But I am nominating you for worst RINO senator.

[beckaz]

I am not talking about hindsight.

McCain saw problems 2 years ago.

Others saw problems when the Iraqi army was disbanded. Some saw bad things when the looters were left alone in the early going, sending a very powerful mssg. to trouble makers.

Ditto about info on Iranian weapons and IEDs. The information been out there for a couple of years. Etc..

No hindsight there, I am talking about avoidable blunders. Furthermore, there will be and were blunders. Fine. Did we need to wait 3 years to fix them. Why is Mookie in Iran only this week? Many here on FR have been screaming about that for months if not years etc

I think you get the pic.

[stm]

"......Some saw bad things when the looters were left alone in the early going..."

Exactly where did you get this little tidbit, the DU? We cracked down on looters and lawbreakers from the minute the dust settled in Baghdad. The ones that we did not arrest we usually shot.

[beckaz]

I suspect his purpose is:

1)To push for a different strategy and help us win the war

2)To show his prez credentials to potential voters.

Nothing unusual or dishonorable there.

[beckaz]

Exactly where did you get this little tidbit, the DU?

NO. What the hell are you talking about?

I saw it with my own eyes on live TV.

Later, Rummy came out saying it was a bit of steam blowing by newly freed people, or some such nonsense.

[NFOShekky]

While I support POTUS and our presence in Iraq, I couldn’t agree with Senator McCain more! SECDEF Rumsfeld and his “lighter” (& cheaper) military has been a disaster! You don’t win wars by matching the strength of an enemy – you win by clobbering your enemy with both quality AND quantity! What is worse is his blatant arrogance in refusing to take the advice of his commanders in the field. I am a career Navy officer (25+ years) and while flag officers are not “all knowing,” when the majority of them tell you we need to change the plan you had better listen. As a student of history I see a lot of similarities between Rumsfeld and his competitor for worst SECDEF ever – McNamara. Both refused to believe that they could possibly be wrong and that others might know better than them! Hopefully our new SECDEF can save the situation. Rumsfeld should have been booted a long time ago (THAT is the one mistake that the President may have made)!

Senator McCain’s initial support of Rumsfeld is another issue. . .

[stm]

Well then maybe you need to stop watching CNN and start listening to people that were there. We began patrolling Baghdad on foot or in Bradleys 24 hours a day almost from day one. Baghdad especially was like Dodge City once we took it. At that point we could have given a shit less about winning hearts and minds. Our one and only mission was to restore order by whatever means necessary. When we could not bring things under control peacefully we just started opening up on them. We tolerated zero civil disobedience and were not the least bit hesitant to using deadly force to quell it. I personally shot more people the first three weeks after after we got to Baghdad than during the entire war.

Good God I can't believe you believed anyting you saw on the TV. My tagline says it all.

[Condor51]

Hey, McInsane....

[rintense]

rintense: McCain is one of the worst Senators

[BibChr]

Gosh, what an idiot.

[free_life]

Someone remind me again, what is the difference between McCain and Hillary?

I won't hold my breath.

[CholeraJoe]

Mighty bold talk for a collaborating traitor.