Persons of the Week (Not) 4/15/06

Look at all the retired generals marching forth and calling for Rummy's resignation. Should they be lauded for speaking truth to power? I think not. Where were they when their protestations would have been brave... and useful?

Therefore I go to the past and name General Eric Shinseki who in February of 2003 publicly disagreed with Rummy and Wolfowitz on the number of troops needed to keep peace in the aftermath of "Shock and Awe."

NYTIMES 2/28/03: Wolfowitz, the deputy defense secretary, opened a two-front war of words on Capitol Hill, calling the recent estimate by Gen. Eric K. Shinseki of the Army that several hundred thousand troops would be needed in postwar Iraq, "wildly off the mark." Pentagon officials have put the figure closer to 100,000 troops.

"The idea that it would take several hundred thousand U.S. forces I think is far off the mark," Mr. Rumsfeld said.

In his testimony, Mr. Wolfowitz ticked off several reasons why he believed a much smaller coalition peacekeeping force than General Shinseki envisioned would be sufficient to police and rebuild postwar Iraq. He said there was no history of ethnic strife in Iraq, as there was in Bosnia or Kosovo. He said Iraqi civilians would welcome an American-led liberation force that "stayed as long as necessary but left as soon as possible," but would oppose a long-term occupation force. And he said that nations that oppose war with Iraq would likely sign up to help rebuild it.

Mad Kane has this to say about the no longer retiring retired generals:

Some Gen'rals are filling our ears,
With Rummy critiques and Bronx cheers.
What a shame they're so late,
And didn't join the debate
Before Bush got another four years.