Donald Rumsfeld cannot be separated from the policies of George W. Bush. Perhaps it should be stated in reverse. I doubt the president has the strength or the desire to suggest that Rummy leave. President Bush is a man of small imagination and his solutions to problems are limited to tax cuts and bellicose bluster. Donald is the one with ideas, and he agrees with himself on every issue. His treatment of a Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff was enough to discourage any Admiral or General from disagreeing with him, at least while on active duty. I guess even professional warriors can be intimidated when all they have worked for during their careers hangs in the balance. The descriptions I've read of Tommy Franks' meeting with the secretary, then his repeated trips to the planning station to answer Rumsfeld's questions, explain our going to Iraq with inadequate force — sufficient to handle a small time dictator's army, perhaps, but without plans for follow-up. Generals Franks and Myers have come to Rumsfeld's defense, but since they were part of the problem, they have vested interests to defend. In truth, I doubt that we had the troops available to do the job right in the first place. Slim and trim armies can win wars, but they are unqualified to win the peace.

Donald Rumsfeld has even more trouble admitting a mistake than his boss, and that means it is well nigh impossible to get such an admission. While the president was playing at the Lincoln theater in San Diego Bay, Rumsfeld was playing the Palace in Iraq saying, "Never have so many been so wrong about so much." In the course of this grandstanding, Iraqis were stealing anything that wasn't nailed down, and the insurgents were stealing from Saddam's ammunition dumps. The material from the dumps is being returned to us, and to Iraqi civilians, on a daily basis. Every wrong decision available to us was chosen by our leaders in this far-off land. Since the Secretary of Defense won the battle with the Secretary of State, the Pentagon became responsible for the rejuvenation of this oil-rich nation, and it took months for Rumsfeld to stop looking for those bouquets of roses he expected the Iraqis to hand us. The failures continue as we try to control an unhappy nation with inadequate manpower.

When you're the boss and make all the decisions, you're also stuck with the blame when things go wrong. That's where Donald Rumsfeld is today. But, he can't be fired without the President admitting he made a truckload of mistakes, because the two of them are joined at the hip. The war against Iraq was unnecessary, a terrible mistake, and the American public has come to realize it. Rumsfeld's departure would probably solve very little, since our options now are so limited. It might be good to be rid of his smug face, but the problems won't go away. In the end, we are probably going to do what we did both in Korea and Vietnam, declare a victory and come home. That will leave us with with Iran next door and no credibility whatsoever.

Remember the bullhorn moment at the ruins of the Twin Towers? Have you heard the expression, The best ad libs are rehearsed? Have you ever wished we'd stayed with the Afghanis long enough to have found the real culprit? So have I. I wonder if the President and the Secretary of Defense have such thoughts, in private, of course.

Posted by Wes Randolph   |   Tuesday, April 18, 2006