The top people in the military under Rumsfeld have all been yes men who told the administration what they wanted to hear. The officers who really knew what was going on were never listened to.

Lest we forget, the Joint Chief's Iraq plan called for twice the troops than Rummy sent over, he calling it the "new military." Troops arived 8 weeks before supplies. Supplies were available, Rummy didn't have the supply chain high on his list of micro-managed priorities. Regular army ran-out of ammunition, so the reserves and nat. guard had to give theirs up. Rummy made sure Afghanis got new body armour before Americans.

Bushco is a callous, murderous group. They should be held accountable before the International Court, and all of their properties confiscated and sold to help pay for reparations.

Ron, the same f**king thing as f**king Vietnam. Westmoreland et al.
But this time, at least some people, like Shinseki, told the truth. And many retired officers have spoken up some early on.
Tiny steps.

disgusted vet
You are correct. Here is a snip from my blog a couple of weeks ago on other similarities between Iraq and Vietnam.

This election resembles 1968. Johnson and McNamara knew the war in Vietnam could not be won at this point. I think it follows that both Nixon and Humphrey knew the war could not be won as well. That's not what they told us in their campaigns and the war continued for four more years and thousands of Americans died. Bush himself may well be delusional but all the people around him are not. Bush may well be a simple minded fool who is not being told the truth himself. Kerry on the other hand is not simple minded so I doubt he is delusional. He must be lying.

Tonight CNN did a bit where the posited Bremer's recent words in his Indiana speech with various soundbites from his tenure as the Iraqi Administrator. It went something like this:

"Do you need more troops?"

"No"

"Have you requested more troops from the Secretary of Defense?"

"No, we have the troops we need."

"Do you see a need for more troops in the near term?"

"No"

Of course, in all fairness, when Jay Garner said he needed more troops 30 days into his tenure, he was quickly ushered out of his office.

I guess keeping your job is more important than doing your job with these people. Now, he can do a book and a book tour, capture lucrative speaking fees, and save face. But Iraq is left burning.

I'm not shocked that we needed more troops. That's been obvious since the earliest days of the war. I'm not surprised that people in Iraq, such as Bremer, asked for more troops and were denied. I do not question the veracity of his statements in the speech.

However, I am surprised Bremer said it publicly, and I'm wondering why Bremer said this in in front of an audience.

Surely, he knew giving a speech, no matter how "private," was going to get out. So, why'd he do it?

I have the same question, Why did Bremer say it?. As for Rumsfield, he was told that no reporters would be in the audience. The cover was blown with the last question which came from a NBC reporter.

Today's WMD report - there are none and there have not been any since 1991. We have spent $900MM to find out what we knew. This administration is completely out of control. How can they go forwad with a straight face?

Tonight Brooks said you could have incompetence and be mislead but you know what you are getting or you could have uncertinity with Kerry. Has every one gone completely mad? This is such a sad state of affairs. And we are the best!!??

This flap about Bremer requesting more troops - pro or con - is meaningless. There never should have been ANY troops in Iraq. The invasion was based on proven lies and is still, to this day, being lied about by the President and Vice-President of the USA. Crooks and Liars.