Word: rumsfeld
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...foxholes, Rumsfeld's take-no-prisoners bravura plays well with the soldiers who would be doing the fighting in Iraq. "We do what we're told to do," says a Marine commander, "but confidence is important to us." As you move up the ranks to the men who are supposed to be scripting this fight, however, not everyone is convinced that Rumsfeld should be managing it down to the last dog tag. Retired Army General Norman Schwarzkopf, who led the first Gulf War, says he is "nervous" about the control Rumsfeld is exercising over the buildup. "It looks like Rumsfeld...
...worth noting that before the shooting starts, another battle, fought behind the scenes, has already been lost and won. This one was waged via endless meetings and telephone calls during the past eight months between Rumsfeld and Franks over exactly how to run this war. As with any battle plan, the military has raised some doubts; one officer estimates that as many as 1 in 3 senior officers questions the wisdom of a pre-emptive war with Iraq. The reasons aren't surprising: the U.S. military is already stretched across the globe, the war against Osama bin Laden is unfinished...
When Franks' rough draft first arrived at the Pentagon nearly a year ago, the plan was to invade Iraq from Kuwait in the south, from Turkey in the north and from Jordan in the west. Rumsfeld couldn't shake the notion that it seemed too familiar. He felt that the U.S. would face a far weaker Iraqi army than the one it crushed 12 years ago--and has bombed incessantly for the past five years. "Despite being told not to do it, [Franks] basically sent up a revised Gulf War I plan. Rumsfeld couldn't believe it," says a senior...
While Franks said he needed at least 250,000 troops, Rumsfeld wanted no more than 100,000, fearing that larger numbers gathered on Saddam's doorstep would present a tempting target. Rumsfeld was also enamored of the dubious idea, backed by a few gung-ho Pentagon civilians, that a small force could hook up with tribesmen in the north and south and get the job done quickly. That might have worked against ragtag warlords in Afghanistan, but it would be dangerous in Iraq, where Saddam has a 400,000-man army. As the plan bounced between Washington and Franks' Tampa...
...tell you he is a terrific manager. And I have been a combat soldier for a long time. The nexus of the two is very powerful for this country." Another Pentagon official puts it this way: "There are hundreds of one-star generals and action officers who complain that Rumsfeld's not listening to the military. But the truth is that he is. He just isn't listening to them...