Now that Rumsfeld is gone, the NY Times reports that commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan has asked for more troops. Ah yes--Bush always says he listens to the Generals "on the ground" when he makes decisions... Funny how what they say (or what we are told they say) changes when the Secretary of Defense changes.
One also has to wonder how this request conflicts with Bush's "augmentation" of troops in Baghdad. I'd like to see the Democrats champion a "surge" in Afghanistan instead.
Wednesday, January 17, 2007
More Troops for Everybody!
Posted by Dr. Strangelove at 1:47 PM
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2 comments:
Like a typical CEO, Bush wants credit for anything good that happens, but to blame his subordnates for all failures. That's why businessmen make poor politicians, by the way: their corporate training teaches them not to make bold decisions and to blame subordinates when things go wrong. The buck stops here? Not hardly.
Bush was interviewd on the News Hour and said that a mistake was made in not putting more troops into Baghdad after the Samarra bombing. Whose fault? He tried to take responsibility but also blame the military for not calling for it.
Too bad military men won't take responsibility for their actions. They just follow orders, retire, then criticize.
// posted by LTG
Many generals did their best, behind closed doors, to get the administration to change policy in Iraq... but Rumsfeld shut them down. He chose commanders who agreed with him, cherry-picked advice from others, and purged the rest. Rarely were generals who disagreed strongly with Rumsfeld called by the Republican chairmen to testify.
While it is important for generals to express their honest concerns with Congressional oversight panels--and some bravely did--it is not appropriate for them to otherwise publicly disagree with their commanders. Waiting until retirement is appropriate.
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