On February 25, 2003, General Eric Ken Shinsecki testified before the Senate Armed Services Committee regarding the invasion of Iraq. When asked about the size of force required, he respondedI would say that what's been mobilized to this point -- something on the order of several hundred thousand soldiers are probably, you know, a figure that would be required. We're talking about post hostilities control over a piece of geography that's fairly significant, with the kinds of ethnic tensions that could lead to other problems. And so it takes a significant ground-force presence.
Shortly afterward, then SecDef Donald Rumsfeld and Deputy Sec Paul Wolfowitz called Shinsecki's estimate "far off the mark" and "wildly off the mark" repsectively. Wolfowitz went on to say that it was "hard to believe" that more troops, than the 150,000 that he and Rumsfeld recommended, would be required to stabilize Iraq.
Five years later....Rumsfeld was asked to resign after the 2006 elections, Wolfowitz resigned in disgrace as President of the World Bank, and General Eric Ken Shinsecki is President Elect Barack Obama's pick to be Secretary of Veteran's Affairs.
It just keeps getting better and better, doesn't it?
6 comments:
...kind've like waiting until the Pro Bowl to pick your fantasy team, huh?
so the guy who advocated more troops in iraq is going to work for the guy who promised to pull them all out? thats change you can believe in.
SW, Its more like;
The 'guy who knew how to get it done quickly and was ignored' is going to work for the 'guy who is going to stop the never ending loose-loose situation'.
I Served in Iraq, and I wish it had been under Shinsecki. If Bush Co had listened to The General in 2003 things would have turned out very differently.
I wonder why Veteran Affairs though?
Mu
"I Served in Iraq, and I wish it had been under Shinsecki."
Oooo...that's going to leave a mark.
I lean toward Justdaves direction here. Mostly because in 2003, Mark was sending out emails in full support of the Iraq war.
Sure we can all talk about what happened since then in an Monday morning arm-chair quarterbacking sort of way since we all have the answers at this point in time but that's pretty easy and lazy to do from the comfort of our basements using info we read on the internet.
I just realized I haven't posted here in a while. Hey Mu, What's up with that alliance in WOW?
Mark,
It's the new army, get with it, or get in it.
Last in line,
Goin' just fine. Thanks for askin'.
Mu
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