Thank ypu, Senator Hagel but I will trust Secretaty Rumsfield and the officers of our military to decide what and when we need to win in Iraq.
I rememberr too well the last time Washington made military decisions.
The Senator served in Vietnam and should really understand the propaganda better than most; the propaganda that was at the forefront then is what is happening now. Hagel should get behind his President and the fighting men and women - as it is he is helping lose the war in Iraq, not helping to win it. Hagel is playing right into the enemy’s hands.
"I will trust Secretaty Rumsfield and the officers of our military to decide what and when we need to win in Iraq."
The people in the DOD who make the decisions have forgotten or never knew how to win a war. The United States has NEVER succeeded in a war unless they dealt a CRUSHING blow to the enemy. This did not occur in Korea, Vietnam, Afghanistan and, now, Iraq. Each of these wars has, or will at some point in the future, come back to bite us in the butt.
The true military men in the DOD should have been allowed to run the war as they saw fit. Neither Bush nor Rumsfeld fits into this category. From whomever the general battle plans trickle down, be it Bush, Cheny, Rumsfeld; there lies the problem of why the war in Iraq is floundering. If the military were allowed to fight the war the way that they were taught, none of this would even be discussed right now.
So Rumsfield and Bush are not a part of Washington? The military is not being allowed to execute this mission, it is and has been a politically run campaign.
I agree with your general sentiment, but make no mistake about it -- "Washington" has been making the military decisions on this one from the get-go.