Three Retired Officers Demand Rumsfeld's Resignation

[BMT]

Eaton is a POS!! He had Benning so screwed up they had to put a BG in Command.
He screwed up the training in Iraqi.

BMT

[SWJED]

Eaton is a POS!! He had Benning so screwed up they had to put a BG in Command.
He screwed up the training in Iraqi.

BMT

Please, the SWC is not a place to drop one liners without an explanation and a tie-in to the thread's topic. Thanks BMT.

[Jedburgh]

There's some discussion of MG (Ret) Eaton and his time in Iraq over on the blog RofaSix, which also has a number of links to varying opinions of the guy....

[SSG Rock]

Eaton is a POS!! He had Benning so screwed up they had to put a BG in Command.
He screwed up the training in Iraqi.

BMT

There were failures at every level BMT. But Rumsfeld has to take the lion's share of the blame for the current situation, not General Eaton. From everything I've read so far, General Eaton lacked clear guidance, was hinderd by a CPA that had no strategic objective, and that he did not have the resources necessary to complete the task. In fact, I have yet to find ONE book that claims post combat Iraq was properly planned for. Everything I've read describes an OSD that borders on being inept, and an OSD that can't get out of it's own way. From the evidence so far, I cannot in good conscious disagree with that.

I cannot dismiss what these generals have to say. What active duty general would dare speak out knowing what happend to General Shinsecki and SA White? I don't think Rumsfeld need resign yet, but he's going to have to break his silence. He should accept the responsibility for the situation and make some bold decisions regarding our future efforts in Iraq because the current effort is not getting the job done.

[J.C.]

The officer Corp and civilian leadership has a lot to awnser for in Iraq, its true. We have done a bad job in many different areas. But, most have made desicions on what they thought was best and tried to go foward to complete the mission that we were handed. If these gentlemen feel that they were given a bad mission or were not given the support they needed, then they can and should speakout. Wheter you disagree or agree, it is important to listen to all sides of an arguement. Personal attacks and pot shots, 90% of the time don't mean a thing. I respect some of these men as fellow proffessionals, and will make my own judgement on what they think. Maybe Rumsfeld should go, or maybe he should stay and we should refocus in on the current conflict. Whatever you think thats fine. But, to ingnore these men, espiecally Col. Hammes, is wrong, dead wrong.

[Jimbo]

No comment on Benning. I can say that CMATT was a nightmare, and the use of Institutional Training Army Reserve people was a mistake that set us back 9 to 12 months in Iraq. As far as MG Batiste, my issue is he really won't come out and say who was putting pressure on him not to ask for more forces, or who was denying him forces, my guess is that it was at the level below SecDef. When 1st ID RIP/TOA'd with 4th ID, 4ID units were directd to conduct Right Seat/Left Seat rides of the unit AO's down to the squad/section level. Usually the Army only does this at the company and above level. The 1st ID guys really didn't have good situational awareness of what was going on on the ground. They pretty much said "we have been in and out of the Balkan's for ten years and we received the power point briefing". I have to question the climate in a unit that would allow that subordinate units to be so cavalier going into the Tikrit area. as far as COL Hammes, I think he has a really good grasp of Maoist insurgency and how it is evoiving in the information age. My concern with COL Hammes book, is that it is at best a book on insurgency and counter-insurgency in the information age. My concern is that many people are taking Hammes' work is a definitive answer to the war we are fighting, I don't think that it is a definitive work, and I do not think that Hammes would argue that his book is the definitive work for GWOT. Just my $.02 cents which is suffering from poor exchange rates.

[SSG Rock]

And now that General Schoomaker's refusal to submit an 08-13 POM has hit the airwaves, what impact might that have on Rumsfeld?

I tell ya, I try not to be a Mondy morning quarterback. But with the luxury of hindsight I do find it difficult to make any excuses for Rumsfeld and other key leaders both civilian and military.

This country was not prepared for this war, that is clear. I think that maybe President Bush could be doing a much better job at describing what we are up against, how long it will take etc, in detail. Seems like when he has done that on occassion he gets a bump in public approval ratings. Maybe he should do it more.