Vindication for a General

[SWJED]

11 January NY Times - Bush’s Speech Is Vindication for a General by Thom Shanker.

After President Bush told the nation Wednesday night that he was ordering a rapid increase of American forces in Iraq, Gen. Eric K. Shinseki was not among the retired officers to offer instant analysis on television.

But the president’s new strategy — with its explicit acknowledgment that not enough troops had been sent to Iraq to establish control — was a vindication for General Shinseki, the former Army chief of staff who publicly told Congress as much just before the war began.

First vilified and then marginalized by civilian members of the Bush administration after those comments, General Shinseki retired and faded away, even as politicians and commentators increasingly cited his prescience...

[Uboat509]

Very loving portrait of Shinseki but most of the guys I know will remember him as the guy who took the black beret away from the Rangers and gave it to the rest of the Army, an unpardonable sin.

SFC W

[SWJED]

Very loving portrait of Shinseki but most of the guys I know will remember him as the guy who took the black beret away from the Rangers and gave it to the rest of the Army, an unpardonable sin.

SFC W

Understand and agree. I attended the Ranger Association protest on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial to show my support. Push came to shove on the Iraq issue - he stood up when many others did not. I also do not agree with some of his "new-found" positions since he retired. That said...

[120mm]

I worked for Shinseki, twice. He's pretty smart, but otherwise is an anti-leader, micro-managing butt-head. For me he will always typify what is wrong with the Army.

I think it is unfortunate that his "legacy" will be of the guy who got it right about Iraq. He deserves much less of a "legacy" in my opinion.

[Uboat509]

What really irks me about this article is that, what ever his other faults, Shinseki has had the class not to jump up and down and yell, "I told you so," so this reporter has decided to do it for him.

SFC W

[UCrawford]

When I was in I remember being less than impressed with Shinseki's "leadership". Particularly in the beret issue, not just because of the Ranger thing but because of the whole mess of how he handled it (first making it an issue item without thinking about the impact, then proposing that whacked-out values test idea so soldiers would have to "earn" their beret, then reversing course and going back to making it an issue item when people bitched some more, and of course the whole mini-scandal about where the berets were purchased). The entire thing was just an unbelievable joke and very poorly handled by Shinseki (who was way too far down in the weeds on the issue). So he didn't come off as a particularly impressive leader to me, for whatever an average enlisted soldier's opinion was worth on that.

But I thought that it was wrong of Bush and Rumsfeld to dismiss his advice on the numbers of troops needed in Iraq. Shinseki wasn't just pulling the numbers out of thin air...his estimate was based on more than just his own personal opinion (since he apparently based it on manning requirements for similar peacekeeping actions in Bosnia, Germany, Japan, etc). Summarily dismissing his opinion (and him) because it inconveniently contradicted the administration's perspective on reality was just foolish and wrong. Like the saying goes, even a broken clock is right twice a day, and hindsight has apparently vindicated Shinseki on that point. It has been decent of Shinseki to apparently not rub that point in Bush's face...and it's a shame that Bush apparently still hasn't learned to accept input that contradicts his own personal opinions when it comes to fighting the war in Iraq.