You should probably fix the second to last sentence

I believe a bit of a Freudian slip has found its way into this piece.

Shouldn't "calls for Bush to resign", be "calls for Rumsfeld to resign"?

Not that we aren't hearing a lot of both...

Your Freudian slip in the last paragraph is great. Although we WISH the calls were for Bush to resign, Rummy would be a nice start.

>>> Reporters asked Scott McClellan repeatedly about the calls for Bush to resign,

If only this were true ... :)

last couple of lines in the post - the generals are calling for Rummy to resign, not Bush....

It's bad enough how much harm the administration and Congress have done to the Constitution and our collective trust in how our government is run, but is it REALLY too much to ask that they stop pissing off the top military commanders enough that this many of them are willing (granted, only after retirement so far) to call for the resignations of top civilian leadership?

The only thing I can think of worse for the country than more of the Bush administration is for some of these guys to start talking about how bad the civilians commanding them are while they're still in charge of large amounts of troops, and decide to do something about it. Please Mr. President, and Mr. Secretary: start listening to the generals before it's too late (I know, I know... the military leadership makes all of the decisions and none of them have ever suggested we do anything except EXACTLY what we've done. Keep repeating it and it might become true.)

Calls for 'rummsefeld to resign', not calls for 'bush to resign'.

Nice slip.

:)

As a retired military chaplain,

the significance of the generals speaking out against the Secretary of Defense is great. This phenomena goes against every military grain. Only severe and no uncertain circumstances could bring about the request for Mr. Rumfeld's resignation.

I hope the American people know that the military is an honorable institution, led by great leaders for whom every soldier/sailor/airman/marine is precious, and who care about every life entrusted to them by the American people for the purposes of managing danger to the United States in war.

The crux of the matter is military advice was not heeded; when this happened in Viet Nam, the military analyzed the loss of life and war in great detail, realizing that civilians in Washington could not call the shots for a war to be won. Ignored military requests this time around were not for more bombs and bullets, but more sense and people in placement of assets for the "holding and molding" phase just after.

The Army is very sophisticated in helping great blocks of people pull together for rebuilding. They are trained to work with those of different cultural background and to

"provide and guide" back to construction and instrastructure soundness.

They were prevented from fighting with enough people, initially, but more, from mobilizing the Iraqis for rebuilding afterwards. Instead, this process was given to American contractors without knowledge or experience in military contexts. As has been mentioned, the Iraqi military was disbanded utterly, with disastrous results.

Mr. Rumsfeld's attitude toward prisoners is virtually the same toward our own military: my way or no way. This simply lacks rationality.

If our aim was to make our own country safer from extremists, there is no question that utter failure is the obvious conclusion. It is fairly clear that a broader failure would be difficult to comprehend at this point.

Even now, however, things could be handled so much better.

Mr. Rumsfeld, certainly patriotic and hard-working, simply does not have the respect for military matters and leadership required in an operation of this kind, nor does he possess the qualities for managing it.

God bless our nation,

Chaplain L. A. Pineau

Major, USAF (ret.)

Somehow it seems that we already heard the phrase : "doing a heck of a job" before. And than there was Kennyboy who also did great. Now it is Rummy. Since the previously thusly addressed got canned, there is hope yet! Only question is who will officially express the thought "You are doing a heck of a job Georgy",. and than make sure he goes to hell!

If they dumpy Rummy, whats to stop him doing a Brownie and dropping his pants for the media

It doesn't take years for the truth to come out - it just takes time for the truth to be recognized by the masses.

Thomas Paine recognized this in Common Sense, "Perhaps the sentiments contained in the following pages, are not yet sufficiently fashionable to procure them general favor; a long habit of not thinking a thing wrong, gives it a superficial appearance of being right, and raises at first a formidable outcry in defense of custom. But tumult soon subsides. Time makes more converts than reason."

Anyone who still believes this administrations superficial claims of "supporting our troops" and "listening to the commanders on the ground" are just partisans who cannot see the truth. Just as Paine's words helped guide a revolution of thought - I hope the general's criticism convert new awareness of the misguided practices of this administration. The outcry against the generals for their breaking of custom will subside - the truth will sink in

The Republican Party has lost the military support that it has long held since Vietnam. Will the Democratic Party take notice? It is time for the Democratic party to actively seek these generals counsel and incorporate their message since the Republican Party has abused it and start actively speaking to the military mindset.

I'm no expert, but even a superficial knowledge of twentieth-century history might lead one to believe that one of the reasons the Soviet people suffered so horribly during World War II was that, in the ten years or more before hostilities broke out between the USSR and Germany, Stalin had been purging the Red Army of those generals whose politics he didn't like, and replacing them with hacks who toed the party line.

No, I am NOT equating Bush/Cheney/Rumsfeld with Stalin/Beria, for cryin' out loud!

But it's undeniable General Shinseki was forced out for telling inconvenient truths. It's becoming apparent that a number of other senior officers who might have known better kept their mouths shut, at least in public. (Whether to protect their careers or to remain in position to limit the damage, I'll leave for others to judge.) Our troops have suffered more than they should have and in the long run, all of us will live with the consequences, because an arrogant political leadership, few of whom have seen war themselves, would not listen to the voices of actual military experience.