Donald "McNamera" Rumsfield has screwed this up because of his fixation on transformation, and his insistance on reducing the armed forces. He has fought this war on the cheap, planned for it on the cheap and has ignored military advice and opinion. Good Riddance.

Posted by: Solomon at December 3, 2006 11:18 PM

How about a Canadian stand point.Win this war at any cost.It shouldn't have come to this and bad paths have been taken,but.This war is the worst thing to happen to America ever, and if you lose you will lose everything americans have fought so great for since ww2, in terms of the worlds respect and integrity towards your nation.

Posted by: wade mollison at December 3, 2006 11:47 AM

Ha! Democrats have long castigated Rummy for "mismanaging" the war. Now that he sounds like the chairman of the Baker/Hamilton panel, watch as his critics morph him into a visionary.

Posted by: Dave at December 2, 2006 8:52 PM

You make many good points in your article. I would like to supplement them with some information:

I am a 2 tour Vietnam Veteran who recently retired after 36 years of working in the Defense Industrial Complex on many of the weapons systems being used by our forces as we speak.

If you are interested in a view of the inside of the Pentagon procurement process from Vietnam to Iraq please check the posting at my blog entitled, “Odyssey of Armements”

http://www.rosecoveredglasses.blogspot.com

The Pentagon is a giant,incredibly complex establishment,budgeted in excess of $500B per year. The Rumsfelds, the Adminisitrations and the Congressmen come and go but the real machinery of policy and procurement keeps grinding away, presenting the politicos who arrive with detail and alternatives slanted to perpetuate itself.

How can any newcomer, be he a President, a Congressman or even the Sec. Def. to be - Mr. Gates- understand such complexity, particulary if heretofore he has not had the clearance to get the full details?

Answer- he can’t. Therefor he accepts the alternatives provided by the career establishment that never goes away and he hopes he makes the right choices. Or he is influenced by a lobbyist or two representing companies in his district or special interest groups.

From a practical standpoint, policy and war decisions are made far below the levels of the talking heads who take the heat or the credit for the results.

This situation is unfortunate but it is ablsolute fact. Take it from one who has been to war and worked in the establishment.

This giant policy making and war machine will eventually come apart and have to be put back together to operate smaller, leaner and on less fuel. But that won’t happen unitil it hits a brick wall at high speed.

We will then have to run a Volkswagon instead of a Caddy and get along somehow. We better start practicing now and get off our high horse. Our golden aura in the world is beginning to dull from arrogance.

Posted by: Ken Larson at December 2, 2006 8:22 PM