Comments on: Bye, Rummy

By: Rick Mills

Rick Mills — Sat, 16 Dec 2006 02:22:54 +0000

DONALD RUMSFELD SHOULD BE APPRECIATED FOR HIS MANY YEARS OF PUBLIC SERVICE. FROM A YOUNG BOY,TONAVY PILOT, HE HAS ALWAYS BELIEVED HARD WORK PAYS OFF. IF ALL AMERICANS SPENT MORE TIME FOCUSED ON DESTROYING EVIL. THAN CHARACTER ASSAINATION WE CAN KICK THESE VIOLENT PEOPLES BUTTS REMEMBER UNITED WE STAND DIVIDED WE FALL. LEST WE NEVER FORGET THOSE WHO CAME BEFORE US, THOSE WHO WILL COME AFTER US. DON’T COMPLAIN ABOUT RUMMY,PATTON, IKE, TRUMAN WOULD HAVE ENJOYED HAVING THIS MAN ON THIER SIDE NOT AGAINST US. WISH HIM YOUR FAMILIES A MERRY CHRISTMAS & GET TO WORK. I AM AN ARMY VET IN A WHEELCHAIR, & ONLY WISH I COULD HELP EACH MEMBER OF THE MILITARY THIER FAMILIES,FRIENDS ‚MORE SO I OFFER YOU A PRAYER & MERRY CHRISTMAS

By: Forefronts

Forefronts — Sat, 25 Nov 2006 03:03:15 +0000

With Rumsfeld’s resignation, we just lost possibly the best SECDEF in my lifetime [I am a 63 year old vet].

By: Robot Economist

Robot Economist — Thu, 09 Nov 2006 04:00:53 +0000

Those who complain adamantly about the occasional politics post on DT need to realize that ‘defense technology’ is just all lab work. As an actual worker bee in the defense technology field at the Pentagon, I will tell you that there is a bit of politics in every piece of kit out in the field.
Force planning, R&D, system development and procurement all involve intensely political questions that revolve around one central axis: The Department of Defense budget, lovely number 051.
I’m a libertarian, so I have no dog in today’s politics, but that doesn’t mean I can’t criticize Rummy or Bush on their defense policies. To be honest, I liked Rummy at first — he was schrewd and definitely knew his Cebrowski talk. Killing the Crusader won him a lot of leeway in my book as well.
After 2003 though, he went from contrarian to cantankerous and became a drag on the DOD. Abu Ghraib was the deal-breaker for me, but there are so many other good reasons to give him the boot.

By: Endyr

Endyr — Thu, 09 Nov 2006 00:15:30 +0000

Well not that it matters, but I think you lost a reader today.
I came to this site to read about Defense TECH, and yet I find that the subject matter seems to take up less and less of the material posted.
I don’t care if you like Rumsfeld or not, it makes no difference. However, it seems that on a site devoted to technology, your political opinions could be left to yourself, or at least placed in an “opinions” section off of the main site.
I’m sure somebody will consider this a post by a “Bush-backer” or something, and that is fine. I just hope that you will think about what this site is called, and hopefully return to what it seems like it was intended to be.
The posters on this site have all shown that they have a deep knowledge of the defense and tech industries and have a good deal of information to give to the readers, but maybe just maybe that information can be delivered, and the political leanings of the posters can be left at the door.

By: Edward Liu

Edward Liu — Wed, 08 Nov 2006 23:42:07 +0000

Now that Rumsfeld is going to be looking for a job, may I suggest he take one as a driver or as some other government functionary in Baghdad? If he’s done as good a job as many claim he has and the bad news in Iraq is as overblown as many of those same people claim it is, then Iraq needs good people like him and it should be perfectly safe for him to be there, right?
If he did it, I’d pay for his body armor.

By: ohwilleke

ohwilleke — Wed, 08 Nov 2006 23:28:50 +0000

With all due respect, this is not a result of the election. You can’t come up with a replacement nominee in one day. No doubt that Army Times, Navy Times, etc. editorial urging Rumsfield to resign was made with full knowledge on the part of the editors that Rumsfield’s resignation was a done deal.

By: Nicholas Weaver

Nicholas Weaver — Wed, 08 Nov 2006 22:39:12 +0000

Andrew Sullivan is NOT a conservative?
Then what is he?
Let me guess, you would also say that William S Lind, (based on his http://www.d-n-i.net commentaries) is not conservative either?
And if you dislike the liberal bias, either go someplace else (although Defense and the National Interest isn’t a blog, its a pretty reliably conservative source for a lot of this stuff, although not nearly so tech-heavy), ignore it, or accept that the truth has an unfortunate heavy liberal bias these days.
Mostly because the liberals aren’t in power to F@#)$(* things up like the conservatives are. Here in Kalifornia, where the Democrats DO hold most of the power, I’m pissed at the Governator mostly because he behaves like a stereotypical dunken-spending, social-engineering Democrat!

By: Kaltes

Kaltes — Wed, 08 Nov 2006 22:23:02 +0000

Noah, Sullivan is not a conservative, and if you think of yourself as being anything like him, then neither are you. Frankly, the overall tone of this site obviously skews liberal, and has ever since I started reading it. The Rumsfeld comment might not provoke calls of liberal bias if it was isolated, but in the context of the overall bias of the site, and because liberals comprise the vast majority of those opposed to Rumsfeld, such criticism is appropriate.
Yeah, some republicans jumped the Rumsfeld hate bandwagon, because it was politically expident to do so. As for the retired generals? Political opportunists with grudges against a former boss who acted unprofessionally.
Rumsfeld made enemies of quite a few politicians and old generals. To me, that means he was doing a great job. I saw how intelligent and effective he was in congressional hearings and press briefings. I also saw how he was making a growing list of enemies among liberals and the decrepit, cold war mentality old guard generals who resisted his attempts to transform the military at every turn.
Also, your pathetic attempt to paint everyone here who doesn’t agree with you on Rumsfeld as a “Bush partisan” is hypocritical. I am not a Bush partisan, not by a long shot. I think Rumsfeld was a scapegoat, hated by liberals for being good at his job, and hated by a minority of generals for pushing the military into a transformation that these generals opposed.

By: Byron Skinner

Byron Skinner — Wed, 08 Nov 2006 22:15:46 +0000

Good Afternoon Folks,
Well after yesterday and the departure of Rumsfeld it would appear that “The House of Bush” is now longer a three holer.
ALLONS,
Byron Skinner

By: Noah Shachtman

Noah Shachtman — Wed, 08 Nov 2006 21:43:30 +0000

One of the things I’ve never really figured out about modern-day Bush partisans (as opposed to old-school, more idealogical, 1980–2001 Republicans) is that any critique of the President or his seconds automatically turns you into a “leftist loony.“
Under those criteria, Senators McCain (R-AZ), Collins (R-ME), Hegel (R-NE), Coleman (R-MN) and Lott (R-MS) might all be considered “leftists” for blasting Rumsfeld’s conduct of the war. So would intellectual godfathers of the Iraq campaign like Ken Adelman, Richard Perle, and William Kristol. Not to mention conservative thinkers like Newt Gingrich and Andrew Sullivan. And, of course, all those retired generals.
http://www.plastic.com/comments.html;sid=04/12/19/06505455;cid=49
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3660761/
http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2006/12/neocons200612
The world is just full of “loonies,” hunh?