The Armor Exchange
While I am sure that some are going to add the exchange between Rumsfeld and the soldier to their arsenal of reasons to demonize the Bush Administration, I myself am proud of the exchange on all sides.
The soldier asked the right question.
Rumsfeld gave the right answer.
And Bush's comment here was totally correct.
Bush said, "The concerns expressed are being addressed, and that is, we expect our troops to have the best possible equipment. And if I were a soldier overseas wanting to defend my country, I'd want to ask the secretary of defense the same question, and that is, are we getting the best we can get us? And they deserve the best."
9 Comments:
I think you are forgetting that this is a war of choice, not necessity.
The Administration made the choice to rush to war. All this talk about "going to war with the army you have" is total bullshit. If we didn't have the proper equipment then we shouldn't have went to war when we did.
Donald I agree with you yet again. I'm glad Rumsfeld had the Q & A session. Some writers in the media spun it as another PR "loss" for the administration. I believe it important and productive.
Just to be clear (to anyone who thinks/thought I am/was a conservative), I was totally against the Iraq war as begun and since fought, but now that we're there for the long haul we must stabilize Iraq and exchanges like these between Rumsfeld and departing troops is important. And yet it is because of this war (and other reasons) I still believe George Bush is one of the worst if not the worst President in our history. This should not diminish the steps Rumsfeld and others are taking to ensure long-term victory/handover, however.
I agree with TDV here. This was a war of choice, not of necessity. And so it comes down to motive. Rumsfeld and Bush didn't say anything laudible IMHO. They had no realistic political choice but to respond to the lack of armor issue well before this Q & A session. That doesn't negate in any way the fact that they *chose* to send men and women into harms way with less than full protection. It underscores the appalling lack of planning and forethought that went into the Iraq War quagmire.
It does underscore the terrible lack of planning but at least they're attempting to communicate openly with the troops. The Q&A session doesn't forgive them and they knew full well it would open administration wounds.
I want everyone to understand that I am commenting on the specific incident.
There are many things to disagee about in the overall war. And I am not using this incident to counter those disagreements.
Exactly, I didn't think this debate had anything to do with debate over the war.
Well my point wasn't really a debate over the war. I was questioning why Donald thought Rummy gave a good response.
My point was that Rummy's response was bogus because this wasn't a war of necessity. If it was a war of necessity, then he would have a point with the whole "you goto war with the army you have" statement. However, since this war wasn't a necessity then we should have at least waited until we had the army we wanted, and then went to war.
The answer he gave was a horrible response and has no weight. This was a war of choice.
The administration argument, though highly spurious, is that it was a war of necessity with the WMD intelligence and other links they had before the war, and I believe they're going to stick to that line come hell or high water.
However if any conflict is a war of choice, Rumsfeld's answer is beyond unsatisfactory.
Post a Comment
Links to this post:
Create a Link
<< Home