The latest example is the head of the British Army, General Sir Richard Dannatt:
In a devastating broadside at Tony Blair's foreign policy, General Sir Richard Dannatt stated explicitly that the continuing presence of British troops "exacerbates the security problems" in Iraq.
Read the entire article here. It's devastating, not just on Blair but on Bush too. It's even more powerful coming on the heels of similar comments by Senator John Warner and former Secretary of State James Baker.
Who's left defending the indefensible Iraq policy of the Bush Administration and Republican Congress? Well, there's George Allen, whose head must be spinning around as he tries to figure out where his masters will lead him next. Hey, how about this for an idea George: THINK FOR YOURSELF FOR A CHANGE! On second thought, forget it. Ideas like that probably come from books or something, and we know George Allen hates those things.
Lowell Feld is Netroots Coordinator for the Jim Webb for US Senate Campaign. The ideas expressed here belong to Lowell Feld alone, and do not represent those of Jim Webb, his advisors, staff, or supporters.
Pierre Rinfret had an interesting observation about Rumsfeld. Who was Rinfret? He died in June of this year. He was an economist who was one of Nixon's economic advisers. He made a disastrous run for Governor of New York under the GOP banner. He knew a great many Republicans from the Nixon era, some of whom survived quite a while thereafter in government.
Anyway, his website still lives, and on it he has a section telling what he thought about a lot of people in government and business. I find his opinions entertaining and thought provoking.
Here's what he said about Rumsfeld:
DONALD RUMSFELD: Getting very, very far on little or nothing.***I knew Donald Rumsfeld in a multitude of positions. I knew him as a Congressman, as Secretary of Defense, as Assistant to the President, Director of the Cost of Living Council,White House Chief of Staff and as Chairman and CEO of the now gone G.D. Searle & Company, Inc.He is a most handsome man with a sardonic smile on his face. He says little which keeps him out of trouble. He has the most knowing look of any man I ever met, and what was behind that look I never did find out!!
***
"Rummy", as he was called by most that knew him, never seemed to have any opinions about anything but when he did express what he thought it was always non-controversial and middle of the road.*** But he was also a Sphinx. What he contributed to the United States all the years he played in politics is beyond me. He is the perfect example of the absolutely perfect cover with very little inside.Or at least that is the way I knew him over the years.
What substance he had is anybody's guess and that might be unfair about him.
But in all those years I never felt there was much there, and he held some of the highest positions of the land. That tells you a great deal about why and how the government is so fouled up. It does not attract the best and the brightest but mainly only those who think they are, but too frequently, aren't.
They lose, we win is the product of every well conceived, well executed strategy. It is not a strategy in and of itself.
What is painfully clear is that neither Bush nor Allen understand strategic thinking. The dismal mismanagement of multiple foreign policy crises bears out this fact. We can definitely do better.
Vote Jim Webb in November. This too bears repeating.