December 12, 2005
WHY LET CIVILIANS RUN THE MILITARY?
Political pullout (Ralph Peters, New York Post, 12/12/2005)
Republicans are frightened of losing seats on the Hill. Despite all their lofty rhetoric, they just may be willing to gamble away Iraq's future in order to say, "Look, ma! Only 75,000 troops left in Iraq!"We don't need any more premature declarations of "Mission accomplished."
If the situation warrants a swift reduction, that's great. But decisions on troop strength must be made by military commanders with Iraqi dust on their boots. None of us wants to hear Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld putting words in soldiers' mouths again. Trust the troops, not the mandarins.
Peters is a much more effective columnist when he doesn't let his personal hatred of Secretary Rumsfeld cloud his judgment and writing.
Posted by kevin_whited at December 12, 2005 11:09 AMRepublicans rather ought to be expecting to lose seats in the House - what are the odds that Bush can buck history in a SECOND off-year election ?
Plus, the opposition voters are still fired-up, driven even more insane by Bush's failure to fail, there's the Abramoff thing, (now there's a "man" who ought to get the Nguyen Ngoc Loan treatment), there's general Bush fatigue, Iraq fatigue...
Nguyen Ngoc Loan, btw, fled South Vietnam in 1975, the year the communists overran the country, and moved to Virginia, where he opened a restaurant.
The former South Vietnamese general died of cancer in '98. He was 67.
Fortunately, he was survived by five children, so his pragmatic warrior genes aren't lost to humanity.
Hooah & R.I.P.
Posted by: Michael Herdegen![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://brothersjuddblog.com/nav-commenters.gif)
at December 12, 2005 11:44 AM
I could be wrong but I thought I saw an analysis that put only about 30 House seats in play and most of those seats were in districts Bush won in '04.
Yes factors like Bush fatigue could hurt the GOP. But if the GOP can nationalize the election to be about Dems weak on defense, Dems hiking taxes, etc. then the GOP can hold or even expand seats.
Posted by: AWW at December 12, 2005 11:49 AMAs for the article Peters definitely is no fan of Rumsfeld. He was quick to jump on the "not enough troops meme" and believes the troop level in Iraq should have been significantly higher. He has a valid point that troops should be removed to reflect the facts on the ground instead of political reasons but perhaps he has missed the increasing number of military people with "Iraq dust on their boots" who are saying troop levels could begin to come down.
Posted by: AWW at December 12, 2005 11:58 AM