Shhh.... Don't Tell But, Rumsfeld Must Go.

Donald Rumsfeld should have retired a year ago when Bush rejected his resignation. Rumsfeld intimidated senior military officers like General Eric Shinseki, who in early 2003 told Congress it would take 300,000 troops to garrison Iraq safely. Rumsfeld fired him while no one except Army Secretary Thomas White came to his defense. Rumsfeld fired White too. Now some retired officers regret not speaking out earlier and confronting Rumsfeld’s mistakes. Rumsfeld is hard to work with and a poisonous atmosphere has developed at the Pentagon. This culture of dissatisfaction has created two different stories: one official story where all is going according to plan and another, candid story told to friends and relatives that is more pessimistic. Unfortunately, the paranoia growing amongst the senior military ranks is quelling even these candid opinions. A Secretary of Defense under so much fire cannot do his job.

From the very beginning, Rumsfeld challenged his military advisors by reducing troop numbers and by not working to keep the Baathist dominated army, (except the senior officer corps,) intact. Now there are less than half the recommended troops, and no Iraqi army whatsoever. Some might argue that the Iraqi army had already disintegrated by the time the provisional authority officially disbanded it but I will bet if they offered $200 a head, they could have rebuilt a majority of it in 2 months or less.
Rumsfeld, as well as Wolfowitz, were concerned that the public would not support a war and reconstruction that cost as much as the estimates suggested. Rumsfeld reduced troop numbers while Wolfowitz engaged in fantasy economics suggesting that Iraqi oil reserves would more than pay the estimate reconstruction costs of $1.5 billion. Wolfowitz ignored analysis that suggested it would be years before Iraqi oil production would return to pre-war levels, let alone pay for reconstruction. The cost so far is over $200 billion and the oil fields remain idle.