WHY THOSE GENERALS HATE HIM:

Rumsfeld OKs wider anti-terror role for military (Ann Scott Tyson, 4/23/06, The Washington Post)

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has approved the military's most ambitious plan yet to fight terrorism and retaliate more rapidly and decisively in the case of another major terrorist attack on the United States, according to defense officials.

[T]he documents in general envision a significantly expanded role for the military — and in particular a growing force of elite Special Operations troops — in continuous operations to combat terrorism outside of war zones such as Iraq and Afghanistan. Developed over about three years by the Special Operations Command (SOCOM) in Tampa, Fla., they reflect a beefing up of the Pentagon's involvement in domains traditionally handled by the CIA and State Department.

For example, SOCOM has dispatched small teams of Army Green Berets and other Special Operations troops to U.S. embassies in more than a dozen countries in the Middle East, Asia and Latin America, where they do operational planning and intelligence gathering to enhance the ability to conduct military operations where the United States is not at war.

And in a subtle but important shift contained in a classified order last year, the Pentagon gained the leeway to inform — rather than gain the approval of — the U.S. ambassador before conducting military operations in a foreign country, according to several administration officials. "We do not need ambassador-level approval," said one defense official familiar with the order.

Overall, the plans underscore Rumsfeld's conviction since the Sept. 11 attacks that the U.S. military must expand its mission beyond 20th-century conventional warfare by infantry, tanks, ships and fighter jets to fighting shadowy and fleeting nonstate groups that are, above all, difficult to find.

Military guys want a huge force getting tons of money and set piece battles and tradtional campaigns that end in predictable medals and promotions, just like their fathers and grandfathers knew.

Posted by Orrin Judd at April 23, 2006 8:08 AM