[Wphile]

Well, actually this is based on a report that is going to be published in the New Yorker Magazine on Monday. Anyway, I expect to hear a lot of this: Rummy is the bad guy.

I'm not sure if it will be a full court press but this sort of thing seems to be popping up with greater frequency and will probably build some steam. The press need to have a bad guy and if the consensus is it's Rummy, then they will all go for it. They have already started with their peppering of questions concerning the length of the war and the assertion that we don't have enough troops.

The ones who really piss me off are the arm-chair generals - all retired - who come out of nowhere and lambaste Rummy for not having enough troops or some such thing. Rummy is trying to shake things up in the Pentagon and we all know that most people do not like change and that is particularly so in an organization such as the Pentagon I would think.

[Oldeconomybuyer]

Rumsfeld has a love/hate relationship with many in the Pentagon press corps and a handful of whiners at the Pentagon. They have been taken to the woodshed so many times by Rummy that any minor bump in the road leads to articles like this.

As an example of press corp bi%ch-slapping, Rumsfeld told CNN's Jamie McIntyre that the answer to his question was "self-evident". Ouch!

[Excuse_My_Bellicosity]

No doubt. The sources for this story are probably generals or civilian GS-15s who are bent out of shape because they've spent their whole lives being careerist politicians but their silly little political games just aren't flying anymore under Rumsfeld.

[Matchett-PI]

"Anyway, I expect to hear a lot of this: Rummy is the bad guy." ~ Wphile

That's what we get for keeping all these Clinton hold-overs in the State Department and the Pentagon.

Remember this nitwit? I wonder if she's still there:

November 13, 1997

Nicholson Calls On Assistant Army Secretary To Step Down
Lister Calls Marines "Dangerous," "Extremists"

Republican National Committee Chairman Jim Nicholson today called on Assistant Secretary of the Army Sara E. Lister to resign her position, following a speech in which she referred to U.S. Marines as "extremists," and "a little dangerous."

"It's astonishing that Secretary Lister has chosen to denigrate the Marine Corps, and it is absolutely unacceptable to have a person with this kind of mindset in a position of power at the Pentagon," Nicholson said. "For the good of the morale of America's Armed Forces, she should publicly apologize and resign immediately."

Lister, one of President Clinton's Pentagon appointees, told a panel of academics and military personnel at Harvard
University's Olin Institute in Baltimore on October 26, that "The Marines are extremists. Wherever you have extremists, you've got some risks of total disconnection with society. And that's a little dangerous."

"These 'extremists' have fought and died for our country for
more than two centuries," Nicholson said, noting that the Marine Corps celebrated its 222nd anniversary November 10. "Service secretaries are supposed to support our men and women in uniform, not publicly degrade their valor. Her remarks serve as evidence of her ignorance about what it takes to assemble and maintain an effective fighting unit."

Nicholson, a retired Army colonel, Army Ranger in Vietnam and West Point graduate, said Lister's comments are reflective of what he called the Clinton Administration's anti-military attitude.

"Bill Clinton wrote that he 'loathed' the military and he's
apparently appointed people who share his anti-military view," Nicholson said.

Rising tensions between the U.S. and Iraq also demonstrate
the need for effective military leadership. "A person with such a negative attitude toward the patriots who serve in uniform has no business in any military organization," Nicholson said.

"With this administration contemplating the use of military force in response to Saddam Hussein's lawless arrogance, it is inexcusable for the Assistant Secretary of the Army to insult the very men and women who would be on the front lines."