Rumsfeld in Retreat

Vengeance

Rumsfeld in Retreat

Letter to Editor

[reprinted in its entirety below]

Vanity Fair, December 2004

RUMSFELD IN RETREAT

Donald Rumsfeld had that seductive charm most people fall for: an incisive manner and piercing intellect that bring things into a cohesive whole [cohesive whole? surely you jest] ["Rummy on the Rocks," by James Wolcott, October]. People believed that this had to be a powerful guy with a plan. His decisive actions led to the mess in Iraq and Abu Ghraib. But somewhere Rumstud's still working it. The situation didn't spell immediate resignation but only a low profile [as in slithering].

It seems his wrestling prowess allowed him to believe that his thoughts and decisions were paramount and that he had to listen only to people who agreed with him. This imagined old-man warrior couldn't understand that decisiveness, coupled with power and the ability to change and adapt when grave mistakes occur, is lasting sexual appeal -- with substance.

Rumsfeld has to "stay wrong." It is not in his nature to accept that he can really be wrong. He is a window which provides a glimpse into the soul of the Bush administration. Nico Colson-Jones, Brooklyn, NY

"Best laid plans of micey men"

Senator Evan Bayh [D-Ind]

http://www.theindychannel.com/news/3987125/detail.html

"The lack of troops, the lack of armor, the lack of other kinds of equipment, it all comes back to them thinking that we were going to be welcomed as liberating heroes and that this was going to be a police action and nothing more."

Bayh's comments came a day after a soldier publicly complained to Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld about a shortage of armored vehicles and other equipment. Army Spc. Thomas Wilson also told Rumsfeld that soldiers have had to scavenge through landfills to find materials to provide adequate protection for their vehicles.

Bayh said he had heard similar complaints ever since the war started.

No wonder we've lost over 1100 military personnel.

Latest A.N.S.W.E.R. figures:

"More than 100,000 Iraqis have died as a result of the brutal invasion and occupation of their country. Almost 1,300 U.S. soldiers have died in a war based on lies."