Rumsfeld Ignored Pentagon

From Yahoo News.

[M_Six]

I listened to an interview on NPR the other day with Joseph Galloway, the co-author of We Were Soldiers Once, and Young. He's also the Chief War Correspondent for Knight Ridder. The interview was fairly shocking. He thinks Rumsfeld is the most incompetent Sec of Defense since McNamara. I tend to agree. He also mentioned the fact that Rumsfeld ignored his own generals and would only listen to planners who were assuring him of a quick victory. His plan to take Baghdad depends on the population rising up against Saddam. If they instead decide to fight the Coalition Forces, the battle will be a disaster for everyone concerned.

[quux]

My bias tells me that it is no surprise that a Navy Pilot knows better than those responsible for the real tough issues, namely the Army.

Sad that this way lots of lives and perhaps even more will be lost.

Concerned C.

[Chuckiechan]

Isn't the civilian branch of government the one the runs the military branch?

Or is it the other way around?

The military never, never has enough.

I think Rumsfeld had political compulsions dictating the number of troops that were eventually sent.

To get the go-ahead, the Administration perhaps underestimated Iraqi resistance as well as the harsh conditions and the long supply line.

Recent public appearances has both Bush and Rumsfeld speaking very curtly and testily. Both are on defensive. The media is not helping either. Some of the reports on BBC look as if they are Al Jazeera. They say it will be a guerella war from now after the suicide attack killing 4 soldiers.

On a positive note, the evil regime is being decimated bit by bit. The war will be long and tragic but Good will prevail over Evil eventually.

[kenyg]

- after a week, the media is wondering if we're bogged down.

The administration and the military never mentioned a swift victory - in fact, Bush cautioned it could be long. The military readied 900 replacements in the event of high casulties.