Frmr Joint Chiefs chairman: Iraq war 'fiasco' due to Rumsfeld's fraud

[JiggsCasey]

Every 2-3 months a new layer of confirmation comes to the surface corroborating what we all pretty much knew. This one is no different.

. ... Yeah, gonna be buying this book.

Ex-top soldier: Iraq war ‘fiasco’ due to Rumsfeld’s ‘lies

Rumsfeld had 'worst style of leadership I witnessed in 38 years of service'

The US had no reason to invade Iraq in 2003, and only did so because of "a series of lies" told to the American people by the Bush administration, says Gen. Hugh Shelton, who served for four years as the US's top military officer.

Shelton, who was the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff from 1997 to 2001, makes the comment in Without Hesitation: The Odyssey of an American Warrior, a soon-to-be-published memoir reviewed at Foreign Policy by Thomas E. Ricks.

"President Bush and his team got us enmeshed in Iraq based on extraordinarily poor intelligence and a series of lies purporting that we had to protect Americans from Saddam's evil empire because it posed such a threat to our national security," Shelton writes in his memoir.

According to Ricks, Shelton states that, in order to get the war going, then-Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld "elbowed aside Gen. Richard Myers and the other members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and also intimidated and flattered Gen. Tommy R. Franks while working directly with him, and so basically went to war without getting the advice of his top military advisors."

After his first meeting with Rumsfeld, Shelton recalls thinking, "We're going to need some heavy-duty cleaning supplies if all we're going to do is waste time having pissing contests like this." When Rumsfeld was proven wrong in a meeting, Shelton says, he wouldn't admit it, but rather would press on and do "his best to stay afloat amid the bull**** he was shoveling out."

At one point, Rumsfeld utterly rejected a plan for how to deal with Iraqi attacks on U.S. warplanes in the old "no-fly zones." Shelton liked the plan how it was, so when ordered to revamp it, he let it sit on his desk for a couple of weeks, and then sent it back to the defense secretary with a new label on it: "Rumsfeld Auto-Response Matrix." "He loved every word of it," Shelton reports with unconcealed contempt.​

Countdown to obligatory Clinton deflection and Shelton smear... 10... 9...

 

[ekrem]

Afterwards it is easy to talk. Just washing hands clean.
Such people should have went public whilst in service.

 

[JiggsCasey]

other assertions in,

[ame="http://www.amazon.com/Without-Hesitation-Odyssey-American-Warrior/dp/0312599056"]Without Hesitation: The Odyssey of an American Warrior[/ame]

* High-ranking Cabinet member proposes intentionally allowing an American pilot to be killed by the Iraqis to have an excuse to retaliate and go to war.

* Details of a contentious Camp David meeting among President George W. Bush and his National Security Council immediately after 9/11, where internal battle lines were drawn---and Shelton (along with Colin Powell) convinced President Bush to do the right thing.

* How Rumsfeld persuaded General Tommy Franks to bypass the Joint Chiefs, leading to a badly flawed Iraq war plan that failed to anticipate the devastating after-effects of the insurgency and civil war.

* Attempts to kill Usama bin Laden that were shot down by our State Department.
* CIA botched high-profile terrorist snatches, leaving Shelton’s Special Operations teams to clean up their mess.

* How Shelton “persuaded” Haiti’s dictator to flee the country.​

 

[JiggsCasey]

Afterwards it is easy to talk. Just washing hands clean.
Such people should have went public whilst in service.

Agreed on your latter point. He's about 8 years too late.

But, I guess that's why they call 'em memoirs... He's fading off into the sunset, reflecting on his career. Eight years ago, the backlash would have been significant while he was still involved in policy during a time of war.

 

[JiggsCasey]

It's interesting that a predominantly conservative message board forum refuses to engage in discussion that casts their desperate 8-year story into extreme doubt whenever some new general or state department official comes forward like this.

 

[geauxtohell]

Countdown to obligatory Clinton deflection and Shelton smear... 10... 9...

Not from me. I've always had a lot of respect for Shelton.

Serving with the 5th SFG and 173rd ABN in Viet Nam couldn't have been an easy gig.

Of course, nothing GEN Shelton says really surprises me.

Like you, I would have liked to see Shelton speak up sooner, however, he left as the CJCOS on October 1st 2001 so he wasn't in on a lot of the Iraq bullshit. I wonder how things would have been different if he had not left.

They probably would have forced him to resign like Shinseki, anyways.

 

[theHawk]

Booosh lied, kids died!!!

At least someone is making money off it.

 

[theHawk]

It's interesting that a predominantly conservative message board forum refuses to engage in discussion that casts their desperate 8-year story into extreme doubt whenever some new general or state department official comes forward like this.

Not much to discuss at this point with vague acusations and no way to prove or disprove it.

 

[JiggsCasey]

They probably would have forced him to resign like Shinseki, anyways.

And Powell.

It's interesting that a predominantly conservative message board forum refuses to engage in discussion that casts their desperate 8-year story into extreme doubt whenever some new general or state department official comes forward like this.

Not much to discuss at this point with vague acusations and no way to prove or disprove it.

This is a little bit like trying to pretend there was "no way" to prove Michael Jackson was a pedophile. The evidence is quite vast. Shelton's is just the latest in a long, long line of direct evidence corroborating that fact.

 

[geauxtohell]

Booosh lied, kids died!!!

At least someone is making money off it.

Cheney and the rest of the scumbags figured out how to make money off of it first.

 

[ClosedCaption]

Afterwards it is easy to talk. Just washing hands clean.
Such people should have went public whilst in service.

...and get outed and smeared like Valerie Plame.

Seriously, do you remember what ppl were called if they didnt support Bush? Terrorist and Terror sympathizers, anti-american and America haters.

It was a way to quiet dissenting voices.

 

[Political Junky]

Great stuff. This is not the last we'll hear of the Iraq War beginnings.

 

[geauxtohell]

Great stuff. This is not the last we'll hear of the Iraq War beginnings.

This story has only begun to be told, and I think it will continue to get worse.

 

[Samson]

Afterwards it is easy to talk. Just washing hands clean.
Such people should have went public whilst in service.

Yes

 

[Trajan]

It's interesting that a predominantly conservative message board forum refuses to engage in discussion that casts their desperate 8-year story into extreme doubt whenever some new general or state department official comes forward like this.

I just now noticed this post , gee sorry I didn't get to it fast enough for you.


hey tell us somehting we don't know. I thought that the war was mismanaged early on after the initial effect , not by the foot soldier but by the usual.....I also think that bremer the 'regent' was dumb and cost us valuable time. It is what it is.

So, how now? Thats the past, Maliki and Sadr have made a deal, Maliki has one eye over his shoulder on what is, - iran and one eye on Obama.....I am sure hes not exactly filled with confidence and for him the big question...who in the long run is he better off with?

Are they even aware of the danger inherent in this? Or are they nodding off?What has our wonderful and lauded Sec state done? What has Obama allowed her to do, or not?

 

[ClosedCaption]

The repub mantra for seeable errors: that was the past

funny how those on the left TOLD you this was happening and the jingoism was soo ripe no kne wanted to believe us. Authoritarians always believe what they are told to believe.

 

[JiggsCasey]

It's interesting that a predominantly conservative message board forum refuses to engage in discussion that casts their desperate 8-year story into extreme doubt whenever some new general or state department official comes forward like this.

I just now noticed this post , gee sorry I didn't get to it fast enough for you.

That was really a statement about your camp overall. Not you, self-absorbed one.

hey tell us somehting we don't know. I thought that the war was mismanaged early on after the initial effect , not by the foot soldier but by the usual.....I also think that bremer the 'regent' was dumb and cost us valuable time. It is what it is.

So, how now? Thats the past, Maliki and Sadr have made a deal, Maliki has one eye over his shoulder on what is, - iran and one eye on Obama.....I am sure hes not exactly filled with confidence and for him the big question...who in the long run is he better off with?

Are they even aware of the danger inherent in this? Or are they nodding off?What has our wonderful and lauded Sec state done? What has Obama allowed her to do, or not?

Speaking of "nothing new," that's all great perspective!!! Thanks!

The issue here is that they defrauded the United States... Or, if you prefer: Conspiracy to commit offense or to defraud United States - Title 18, Chapter 19, Section 371, and violation of US Laws related to Fraud and False Statements - Title 18, Chapter 47, Section 1001.

Some people, who have a situational ethics clause built in to their psyche for all things GOP nefarious, still refuse to ever demand any semblance of justice. Of course, if Bill Clinton perpetrated these greatest crimes in U.S. history, then that same contingent (I call them "28 percenters," based on those who still thought Boy King was doing a good job at the end) would be having a flag-draped conniption fit for American justice.

 

[ClosedCaption]

Trillions are gone, get over it

-Signed
Republicans

 

[del]

The repub mantra for seeable errors: that was the past

funny how those on the left TOLD you this was happening and the jingoism was soo ripe no kne wanted to believe us. Authoritarians always believe what they are told to believe.

there were plenty on the right who were against the iraqi war, and there were plenty on the left who supported it.

the sad thing is death and dismemberment really don't care about politics, and kids pay the price for the foolishness of old men.

same as it ever was

 

[Sallow]

Afterwards it is easy to talk. Just washing hands clean.
Such people should have went public whilst in service.

A bunch of people did. No one in government was listening. Shinseki was ostracized and forced to retire for even hinting that the plans were all wrong.

The fact is that the PNAC wanted to do this for quite some time. They wrote a letter to Clinton urging him to knock over Iraq. When he refused they started putting their efforts into convincing other politicians to go along with their crazy plans. They found a kindred spirit in Bush who had an axe to grind with Iraq.

Shortly after the election..Bush populated his administration with the crazy folk of the PNAC and they began working on ways to sell this to the public. 9/11 gave them that opportunity and they went for it.

Even so..Iraq didn't have overwhelming support. Some 60% of the American Public wanted to part of it. They went with it anyway with disastrous results.

No one's even talking about it now. War should be a huge issue..always.