Listening to the Generals...

President Bush contends that he always listens to the recommendations from the Generals. From the outset of planning for the invasion of Iraq, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld at the direction of the President continuously overruled the advice of senior military planners and commanding Generals.

Watch the complete PBS Frontline program, "Rumsfeld's War".
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/pentagon/view/

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• Bush
• Iraq
• General
• Tommy
• Franks
• Shinseki
• CENTCOM
• Rumsfeld
• Bob
• Woodward
• Thomas
• Ricks
• Dana
• Priest
• occupation
• insurgency

[InfoJunkieHolland]

He's the DECIDER... Unless the decision pans out bad...

[MadMustard]

Exactly, succinctly said!

[MartySchrader]

They listened to a colonel? A COLONEL?!? Maybe it was a kernel. Hmm.

Has anybody else noticed the dumbing-down of the professional military corps? All the good four-stars are gone now. Nothing but Bush Leaguers left. Oh, well. The once-proud military started by Reagan, not screwed up by Bush 41, and honed to a razor edge by Clinton is now a turd. Try using some more turd polish, there, Dubya.

[MadMustard]

Yes, there will be a lot of rebuilding of the Army to do once Bush leaves.

There will be a lot of books coming out in the years to come; a lot of CYA for the decisions that were made.

[prrolg]

Clinton gave us don't ask don't tell and the feminization of the military. Plus he cut 1/3 from the entire military men and hardware.Wanna elaborate a bit on that razor edge honing? Forget YT literary licence if you don't want to get called out.

[MadMustard]

What a straw man argument there, prrlog. This video was on a limited subject, not a history of the Army. Yep, the military force was cut in the '90s, supposedly as a result of the 'peace dividend'.

Not revisionism, just the facts. Rumsfeld intensified the 'transformation' of the Army. He thought it was still much too big. He believed in the smaller footprint. Don't believe me, look it up. Their solution now is to outsource and cut the numbers of combat troops.

[phdecora]

we went into the balkans to stop a genocide, and it largely succeeded in doing that.

the chinese have gained more power from the republicans that run wal-mart (and every other company that moved production there) than they coud have ever gotten from clinton

if u want to pound on clinton, pound on him for not catching bin ladin in the 90s, and for the disaster of the CIA in kurdistan in the 90s

[Ubaldo421]

George Bush,one the most ipocrisyte criminal in the world.

[silvermediastudio]

@pvi212 So much bad information in that comment. Not sure where to start.

[silvermediastudio]

At 2:20, how does Bob Woodward from the Post know what Bush and Rumsfeld spoke about behind closed doors in a little room separate from the NSC-briefing, during what was most certainly a classified session?

[tibherius]

my god he is an idiot

[silvermediastudio]

@pvi212 The armor used today on HMMWVs didn't exist in the Clinton years. Armor used today is applied as a kit, HMMWV base platforms are purchased unarmored. By "cheaper" you mean less expensive, and yes, those are taxpayer dollars that go to procure vast military resources, and much be allocated across the board. Clearly you really don't know what you're talking about.

[centurion180ad]

The first Shrub lies on this video, is AFTER General Shinseki and his entire staff had been summarily thrown overboard. The message to General Tommy Franks would have been loud & clear. Play along to the PNAC plan, or you too get thrown overboard.

[garciagar64]

Hey dumb ass. Read, read, read. Maybe so you made sense. Clinton was forced to go in due a carnage in a open market. Read, you sorry ass!

[juarl]

Fuck you Bush, I hope you read this.

[phdecora]

interesting video