R. Emmett Tyrrell Jr., egregious hack

In his November 16 column, Tyrrell is fawning in his praise of the inept Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld:

"Reforming bureaucracy is the great challenge facing the greatest reformers, and that is why Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld will be assessed by historians as a great secretary of defense.

He initiated more than 100 far-reaching reforms, and made policy changes that have made the American military probably the most effective in the world. Thanks to him our ground forces are more rapidly deployable. The diverse branches of the military work together more closely. And ballistic missile defense is much advanced."

Are you kidding me?

Here's Donald Rumsfeld's legacy. To a soldier who asked why his unit had to go to Iraq without the proper body and vehicle armor:

"As you know, you go to war with the Army you have. They're not the Army you might want or wish to have at a later time."

He added: "If you think about it, you can have all the armor in the world on a tank and a tank can be blown up."

Translation: "get in there and die for your country, pussy."

Before the United States invaded Iraq in 2003, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld forbade military strategists to develop plans for securing a postwar Iraq, the retiring commander of the Army Transportation Corps said Thursday.

"Brig. Gen. Mark Scheid claims Rumsfeld said "he would fire the next person" who talked about the need for a postwar plan."

Translation: "We will, in fact, be greeted as liberators."

Rumsfeld announced the replacement of Army Chief of Staff Eric Shinseki a year and a half in advance. In addition, NOT ONE member of the Bush administration attended the retirement ceremony for an officer who served his country for over 30 years and lost half of one foot in Vietnam.

Why? Maybe because Shinseki was not a partisan Bush toady, but the kind of clear headed thinker who could testify before Congress that invading and occupying Iraq would take several hundred thousand troops.

Today the news broke that the Army is rewriting its Field Manual on Full Spectrum Operations. The new draft of this FM argues that in addition to defeating the enemy, military units must focus on providing security for the population — even during major combat. This would be in contradiction to the Rumsfeld Doctrine, the emphasis of speed WITHOUT providing for stability operations, the security of civilians in the battlespace, and civil affairs. In short, Iraq has proved to the Army that Rumsfeld's concept doesn't work.

And Bob Tyrell, that fucking hack, thinks THIS is what qualifies as a "great secretary of defense?" This would be funny if only so many lives weren't being sacrificed.