Rumsfeld blames the generals for poor pre-war planning.

http://thinkprogress.org/2008/05/08/rumsfeld-blames-the-generals-for-poor-pre-war-planning/

Rumsfeld blames the generals for poor pre-war planning.

In February 2003, Gen. Eric Shinseki famously predicted that “several hundred thousand” troops would be needed for post-war hostilities in Iraq. According to documents recently released by the Pentagon in response to The New York Times’s expose on its propaganda program, however, Donald Rumsfeld claimed in a 2006 briefing that the reason why he did not support a larger invasion force was because commanders did not request it:

RUMSFELD: Now, it turns out he {Shinkseki} was right. The commanders–you guys ended up wanting roughly the same as you had for the major combat operation, and that’s what we have. There is no damned guidebook that says what the number ought to be. We were queued up to go up to what, 400-plus thousand.

Q: Yes, they were already in queue.

RUMSFELD: They were in the queue. We would have gone right on if they’d wanted them, but they didn’t, so life goes on.

In reality, Rumsfeld fought back when generals like Shinseki requested more troops. He said in 2003 that Shinseki was “far from the mark.” As McClatchy reported in 2004, “Central Command originally proposed a force of 380,000 to attack and occupy Iraq. Rumsfeld’s opening bid was about 40,000. … By September 2003, Rumsfeld and his aides thought, there would be very few American troops left in Iraq.”

There, of course, was "a book" on how many troops to send in. The Pentagon wargamed an Iraq invasion & occupation four years before Shock & Awe and concluded 400,000 troops would be needed, but that there would still be armed resistance, general chaos, and a breakdown in regional power balances that might lead to spin off wars.

Rumsfeld was briefed on that scenario and fucking chose to ignore it.

...and the 'dancing in the streets and flower pedals' reception he fantasized US troops would encounter.

"you go to war with the army you *have*, not with the army you *wish* you had.."???

Fuck you, RummyDummy!

"Never get involved in a land war in Asia!" --Vizzini, 'The Princess Bride'

Who Cares, He should be tried and hung and all of his families ill gotten gain
seized.Shinseki was right.

I can think of tens of thousands of exceptions.

Just watch PBS' Bush's War or the documentary No End in Sight. He fought tooth and nail to keep the initial troop deployment numbers low, and was livid when Shinseki testified that 400,000 troops was closer to the mark we needed than the number we actually sent.

film Godfather and see the ease at which they killed their enemies. Joseph Goebbels may have perfected the "Big Lie" but these people carry on his legacy.

They'll deny saying things even when there's audio or video footage to the contrary. It just shows how much contempt they have for the American people, imo, when they try to pull stunts like this. They must think we're all idiots--they certainly act as if they do, anyway.

:sarcasm:

I have never in my life seen such lying sacks of manure as in the Bush administration. And I am old.

Straight from the Minister of Truth.