First, the “okay” news: Army Times editorial - Time for Rumsfeld to go.
One rosy reassurance after another has been handed down by President Bush, Vice President Cheney and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld: “mission accomplished,” the insurgency is “in its last throes,” and “back off, we know what we’re doing,” are a few choice examples.
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Now, however, a new chorus of criticism is beginning to resonate. Active-duty military leaders are starting to voice misgivings about the war’s planning, execution and dimming prospects for success.
The White House’s response? Predictably, it amounts to “STFU”:
In a statement released on Saturday, Department of Defense spokesman Bryan Whitman said that “the new ‘chorus of criticism’ noted by the editorials is actually old news and does not include commanders in the field, who remain committed to the mission….The assertion, without evidence, that senior military officers are ‘toeing the line’ is an insult to their judgment and integrity.”