Rumsfeld: Tell It Straight to the Soldiers

Rummy's got some gall.

Speaking in front of soldiers in Kuwait yesterday, he invited them to ask him some "tough questions." Apparantly the soldiers thought he meant it.

When asked why the soldiers don't have enough armored vehicles or body armor, Rumsfeld responded, "As you know, you go to war with the Army you have, not the Army you might want or wish to have at a later time."

He forgets, conveniently, that the timetable for the drive to war was written by him and as subject to political necessity, not the level or preparation for the troops. And that makes more sense when you're attacked and don't have much choice; considerably less when the war you're talking about is invading another country at your whim and schedule. He added: "If you think about it, you can have all the armor in the world on a tank and a tank can be blown up. And you can have an up-armored Humvee and it can be blown up,"

You know, beyond that fact the soldiers already know that and probably lay awake at night thinking about it, that's not much comfort to the guys whose lives and limbs COULD have been saved by sufficient armor.

Rumsfeld's "performance" for the troops was a disgrace. He responded to their "tough" questions with the same pat, condescending and dismissive answers that he gives to the reporters who question him at the Pentagon. If that's not a sign he's been in the Pentagon too long, I don't know what is.

How is it this is the only member of the cabinet the Bush "personally" asked to stay on?