Batiste renews calls for Rumsfeld’s resignation
There aren’t many people more qualified to speak about the situation in Iraq than retired two star general John Batiste. Batiste commanded the 1st Infantry Division in Iraq in 2004 and 2005 and served as a senior military assistant to former deputy defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz. Today, he lives in Rochester, where he is the president of Klein Steel (check out this cool profile of the company in the D&C).
Batiste has criticized Rumsfeld before (see this D&C editorial, for example). Today, he’s stepping up that criticism:
“Secretary Rumsfeld ignored 12 years of U.S. Central Command deliberate planning and strategy, dismissed honest dissent, and browbeat subordinates to build ‘his plan,’ which did not address the hard work to crush the insurgency, secure a post-Saddam Iraq, build the peace and set Iraq up for self-reliance,” Batiste said.
(snip)
“Secretary Rumsfeld’s dismal strategic decisions resulted in the unnecessary deaths of American servicemen and women, our allies, and the good people of Iraq,” Batiste said. “He was responsible for America and her allies going to war with the wrong plan and a strategy that did not address the realities of fighting an insurgency.”
You can see the video of Batiste’s testimony here. It’s hard for me to see how Batiste — or any of the other retired generals who have called for Rumsfeld’s resignation — have anything to gain from this personally. We have every reason to believe that he is speaking out only out of concern for the country. Would that Kuhl, Walsh, and Reynolds had the same concern. I suspect they know Dumbsfeld’s a disaster as well as we do. It’s a shame they won’t try to do anything about it. If they’re serious about “standing up to president Bush”, they should start right here.
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[...] that Batiste lives in Rochester, where he is president of Klein Steel; earlier Batiste was among a group of generals who called for Rumsfeld’s resignation. Batiste [...]