PUNY? How long did it take to win the War In Afgan. & Iraq?? Yes, WIN, which we did! I question that assesment!

Now, Occupation?? That’s a dif. story and obviously Not planned for! Lets face it, Rummy and Bush were caught with their Pants down! I’m not saying that they should have Known, Did anyone think this is what we would have to deal with??

I have a real problem with that “Occupation” thing! I knew that it would take time to get Iraq up to speed, but as many, my patience is about stretched thin!

Do we really want to have a 250,000 occupying force in Iraq?? I sure as hell don’t and understand the strategy of preparing Iraq to defend itself and the worry about too big of a “Foot Print” by our troops!

Soo, enough or not enough troops, it sure doesn’t appear that we have enough, but like I said, I’m not an expert and observing from afar!

Beats me?

Motivate the Rebuplican Base?? What? Here all along I thot the PUB base was Conservative??

U R making NO Sense!

I’m a Vietnam vet, and I think that you’re missing the point here….

Rumsfeld had to go!
It has nothing to do with appeasing the left, appeasing the Islamofascists, appeasing the “world community’ or appeasing anyone else. And as for our brave men and women in the field, they HAVE ALREADY BEEN BETRAYED.

Rumsfeld had to go for two simple reasons:
1. HE WAS INCOMPETENT!
2. HE COULDN’T ACCEPT CRITICISM

Service to our country means that you respect the people that you are serving. And I dont mean George Bush, but the American people that elected him.
I never saw that respect in Rumsfeld

Also Bush and Co.’s(McCain being at the forefront) postition on Illegals and Border Security was Disastous! Over 70% (myself included) were against Amnesty for Illegals! I stated at the time when Bush’s position became “Crystal” clear that I would be the first to advance his impeachment based on this stance! He asks our men and women in the military to make the Ultimate Sacrifice and then opens the backdoor to more Terrorists! His policy on illegals is not only Dangerous to our Physical Security but also to the Economy! I think Cheney would have done just fine in his place!

Now, with that said, I voted for GB twice, He has done much good(Tax Cuts-The proof is obvious to all but the Wingnuts on the Left), The War on Iraq is a vital part of the GWOT and I am 100% behind this effort, Though I also feel we are being Too PC(not an expert), This results in only getting our brave military killed(Cannon Fodder)! I think we should be very direct with the Prime Minister of Iraq, we are going to become much more Aggressive and are going to KILL the Terrorists, We don’t care what party or tribe they are from, NO more Politics with our Troops! It’s his country and if he doesn’t agree, then LEAVE! This putting our troops out there as target practice for the Terrorists is BULLSHIT! Our military was Built to ATTACK! Period, NUFF Said!

The Bush/Rove strategy all along has been to (all together now) motivate the Republican base even if it means alienating independents. Firing Rumsfeld before the election would have de-energized the Republican base.

Both McNamara and Rumsfeld subscribed to the doctrine of “underwhelming force,” that is, using as few resources as possible in prosecuting a war in order to lose less.

I think the most startling realities are those we are avoiding. Let’s face it, we are not the military superpower we think we are. Our all-volunteer military was wrongly configured and it is puny. Forty years ago we had 350K troops in Vietnam going full bore for the half million mark with heavy military commitments to NATO and the rest of ASEAN. At 150K deployed in two theaters, we have bare cupboards. The President has done squat to get what Rumsfeld needs to end this war in bloody resoluteness, as both Rick and Ralph Peters have sought. The President will not even attempt to interdict, punish and destroy the two sh*thole countries keeping the insurgency alive, forty years ago it was the entire commie world—oh, how the mighty have fallen.

Who could leverage the British to actually do something like fight the Iranian-led Shi’ite militias in southern Iraq? President Bush couldn’t because he needed the political cover of Blair and British participation. It was only quiet for the limeys because they didn’t fight. The British “softly, softly” approach has cost America dearly and that too lies at the President’s feet. All these are political decisions, made by the President and abetted by two really bad choices for Secys of State, Powell and Rice (who were/are 41’s before they’re 43’s). Oh, and Bremer was their’s too.

The question everyone should be asking but isn’t, because everyone is focused on their own opinions, is what do the fighting men and women think about Rumsfeld’s resignation and what adverse reactions could occur? Question two would be is what will happen to an all-volunteer military that is betrayed in the field if cut and run is implemented? Volunteers? Anyone?

One last thing. There is no such thing as the “resurgent” Taliban. Pakistan has just opened another front in their Islamic war and it is against America and our NATO allies. We are killing all Pakis now, newly minted and fresh from Peshawar. If we let Iraq fall, how far behind is Afghanistan? Without Rumsfeld, who is the firewall? My faith in this President has reached its nadir with Rumsfeld’s resignation, for no other reason that if not constrained, he was the most ruthless and feared man for those who seek to destroy us.

I’m enjoying your post-election analysis and comments; as usual, you always provide plenty of food for thought;
I’ve also been reading the posts – and the comments - at Hot Air and LGF, and it’s beginning to become clear to me why the GOP got it’s ass kicked in this election. (It’s also becoming clear to me why you said:
“Commenters on any site – right or left – are meaningless. That’s why I quoted from bloggers only.” That may sound a little pompous, but alas, I’m afraid that it’s true.

I keep looking for some confirmation of your comments that there must be “some hard and brutal introspection by GOP leaders and an acknowledgement of their total and complete failure”, but I’m finding little or none. All I’m seeing is a lot of whining and an incredible amount of comments mourning Rumsfeld’s resignation, praising his service and the great job that he did. Unfortunately, there are a lot of Republicans in denial out there. Maybe someone can explain to me how Rumsfeld, nasty, pompous and condescending to everyone including his own military, party and supporters – not to mention totally inept – as evidenced by the ZERO PROGRESS that has been made in Iraq – can be looked upon as someone who has served his country well. Many respected conservative bloggers - such as yourself – as well as many respected conservatives and neocons have been calling for Rumfield to step down for months; and what about all of the now retired Generals who have been calling for his resignation??? are they all now on the payroll of the Democratic party????????

As for Bush – “the decider” –he deserves most of the blame for the election results. After looking for a couple of weeks as if he were actually moderating his tone, he completely changes course and sticks the final fork in any Republican election hopes by declaring that Rumsfeld will be in for the duration of his term; then today – he sticks a fork in Rumsfeld and we find out that he had already planned to replace him regardless of the election results??????? As a result, a lot of good and well respected Republicans were thrown out with the bathwater last night…Sorry to say it, but Bush is starting to get that same smell which will put him in the company of Bill “I never had sex with that woman” Clinton and Pete ” “I never bet on baseball” Rose. I think that you may be cutting Bush too much slack when you say…….”We can’t just abandon Bush – not when the Democrats are sharpening their knives to come after him, the Presidency, the war, tax cuts, and the entire conservative agenda.” You’re right – the Democrats will come after him, but I don’t think it will be primarily for the reasons you site above. They will probably focus on ineptitude, corruption, and a general failure to listen to anyone – particularly the American people – who - as this election and the voter breakdown has shown - are not fools. And if his idea of bipartisan cooperation with the Democrats means accepting an Immigration bill which will open the borders and put our country at risk, we might not be protesting those impeachment

Donald Rumsfeld Resigning as Defense Secretary

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