The first victim of the Democrat takeover of the House is Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld.
I don’t know if many folks know that this turn as SecDef was actually Mr. Rumsfeld’s second go-around in that office. He first served as SecDef under President Gerald Ford.
In addition to his two terms as Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld served in the U.S. Navy as a naval aviator from 1954-1957, transferred to the Naval Reserve and drilled in flying and admin assignments until he became SecDef in 1975, at which time he honorably retired with the Naval rank of Captain.
He had four terms as Representative from the State of Illinois, served as U.S. Ambassador to NATO, Special Presidential Envoy to the Middle East, and is the recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom — the highest national honor awarded to a civilian.
Before being tapped as President Bush’s SecDef, Mr. Rumsfeld had a highly successful career in private business and on Wall Street.
Stand tall, sir. I’d be honoured to buy you a drink anytime, anywhere.
LawDog
16 thoughts on “Chin up, stiff upper lip and sod ’em all.”
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He did a tough, thankless job very well. It’s not easy to change a culture such as the military, but he sure tried.
We are the worse off for his leaving. Gates has big shoes to fill.
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Rummy probably feels he’s getting too long in the tooth to deal with the inevitable “independent counsel” investigations and smear campaigns.
Anyone who thinks the dems aren’t going to use their newfound subpoena power to do their best to embarrass/undermine/disgrace the Republicans (fully supported/abetted by the MSM) before the big show in two years must have fallen off the turnip truck yesterday.
Rummy’s smart…pack it in before the fur flies: sit at home and watch the festivities on the telly whilst sipping a cold martini – shaken, not stirred – two olives.
“Anyone who thinks the dems aren’t going to use their newfound subpoena power to do their best to embarrass/undermine/disgrace the Republicans (fully supported/abetted by the MSM) before the big show in two years must have fallen off the turnip truck yesterday.”
Yeah, and that’s right after Schumer, whom I dislike for his Liberal Left wing anti-gun stand, went on The Factor and said they wouldn’t.
mustanger98 on THR
I like Rumnmy, but if he was planning on moving along, this was a good time to do it.
Hopefully Bush can get his replacement in before the commie bastards take over in January.
I’m sorry, from everything I’ve heard from my friends still in service, or with their ear to the ground in Iraq, Rummy was screwing up by the numbers.
Maybe he was screwing up due to an untenable political warplan, or maybe he just was not prepared to manage a military that was not fighting a Cold War, but either way, he was not giving his forces on the ground what they needed to get the job done, whether it was materials or strategy.
When he was first appointed, I thought Rummy was a good choice, former military, an obviously competent stategist, etc. But it became obvious after the first year in Iraq that he was missing something important over there.
I’m hoping that the new guy, Gates, has the right mentality to break the insurgency.
Oh, and those who think Dems=Communists, fine, then Republicans=NeoCons or Theocrats or corrupt big business or Grand Oil Party.
Please, STOP being so narrow minded! No wonder this country is so divided.
To anonymous: I concur. Our Soldiers, and those closest to our Soldiers, had serious issues and concerns with Rummy’s management of assets prior to the last election. Many of them, us, wanted the SecDef gone prior to W’s second term.
As far as Mr. Gates is concerned, there’s a pretty decent article in the current issue of “Texas Monthly” detailing his leadership at A&M. Friends of ours who work within the A&M system sing his praises and are genuinely sad to see him go.
As far as the timing of the SecDef’s resignation, and Mr. Gates nomination, no way this wasn’t in the works prior to Nov. 7th. Why didn’t it happen sooner (like four years ago?!?!) who knows.
As much as I dislike the way he ran the DOD, I will give him a nod in recognition of decades of public service. However, I won’t buy him a drink…
It was a wise move for him to go now — because once the new Congress is seated and the inevitable Democrat show trials, err, hearings, start, all he’s going to be doing is testifying. Best to get a SecDef in who can devote all of his attention to the job.
Actually, being retired won’t keep him from getting gathered up in one witch hunt or another. And he should have walked a month or two ago; it would have taken some heat off W, and maybe saved a seat or two. Really bad timing.
OldeForce
Rummy flew Naval airplanes 4 years active service and nearly two decades as a reservist? (Flying carrier takeoffs and landings in peacetime is more dangerous than what most servicemen do during a war.) But according to our mass media, the Bush team were draftdodgers!
I do have to concur with the assessment that he screwed up in Iraq. Not in the initial attack and conquest; the only time such operations go any better is when there is no one resisting. But afterwards, when the roles shifted towards patrols and quasi-police work, we didn’t have enough men on the ground, and the substitution of airliftable light armored vehicles and humvees for real armor started to tell. Rummy stuck to a plan based apparently on what was available within a certain political cost, rather than working on correcting those deficiencies. (E.g., why in heck do we still have soldiers twiddling their thumbs in Germany? The Ruskies aren’t going to invade.)
He has the credentials, he has the background, and until it came to the point of handling a war he was great for reorganization and putting things in order…
But when it came to handling wartime activities… have you read the rules of engagement cards? My word, some of the milblogs I have read, that posted what they are supposed to adhere to… it was absolutely stunning.
I’m sorry, but good riddance. He ran our soldiers as if they were law enforcement officers, and not soldiers. And when something went well, and when the enemy didn’t like it… all the enemy needed to do was to make an allegation against our soldiers and our military would throw them in jail.
Just look at the Pendleton 8. No actual evidence, just the allegation of the enemy, and yet they throw them in jail and, after months, break one of them, and then use that to break another. They will now have to testify against their fellow men, but that seems to be all they have… but by golly, they weren’t going to let them out until someone confessed.
The President and Rumsfield could have stepped in… they chose not to. In fact, Tony Snow said that was ridiculous. I’m sorry, but those are YOUR MEN, and you’re throwing them to the wolves.
So don’t let the door hit you on the way out… and sailorcut has the motives for leaving right, it seems. Get out before you get called on it.
“Please, STOP being so narrow minded! No wonder this country is so divided.”
I gather you want us to be as open-minded as the Damnocrats, with their “out on a timetable,” AKA “cut and run,” strategy?
We’re not “narrow minded,” we’re thinking about the long-term effects, and the liberals don’t have a viable solution. If “the hell with the long term consequences, we must leave Iraq now” isn’t narrow-minded, I don’t know what is.
I hope someday we’ll see a Carrier named after him.
Actually Flo, I just get sick of people making generalizations about anything, but especially political ones. Being a democrat does not make you a “Liberal” or a communist, or an aetheist, or an eco-terrorist, or whatever. Just as being a Republican does not make you a theocrat or anti-union / pro-corporate or a raging gun-nut just waiting for the chance to hold of the Feds from your mountain top bunker. If you are worried about someone in the congress who may not do what you think is right, name them and say why.
And yes, you should be open minded. If all you are going to do is chant the right wing rheotoric and stop thinking about the Iraq issues, then what is the point in having a brain.
Can the democrats come up with a better solution to Iraq than the republicans now that they got the ball? I don’t know, we’ll see. To be honest, I doubt too many of them will truly push a “get out now” plan. I mean, be honest, how many politicians do you know actually do what they say they’ll do during a campaign or when they are trading barbs. The dems are in power, and we all know that that alone changes things.
BTW
HAPPY BIRTHDAY USMC! SEMPER FI!
WHOYAH!
I’ve heard that the brass at the Pentagon hated his guts and were about to riot.
He hated the Army and wanted to reshape it into nothing but small, Delta style teams.
The Dems were arguing about who got to tie the noose, so he quit.
Hooz.