Too little, too late, Don. That is the reaction of many voters to a classified memo written by Defense Secretary Don Rumsfeld two days before announcing his resignation. The memo said the U.S. military’s role in Iraq was not working and it was “time for a major adjustments,” including possible troop reductions.
“I am finding it hard to believe that these ideas took so long to surface,” wrote a former military lawyer from Massachusetts who goes by the name “wamoshii” on the issues-based HOTSOUP.com. The aspiring teacher started a Loop, or discussion forum, to discuss the memo with fellow community members.
“There are some nuggets here,” wamoshii wrote. “So why does he make these recommendations so late? I have no idea. For some reason, he sacrificed his legacy for nonsense until it was too late.” Among the replies thus far:
- “Perhaps Rumsfeld held these views and discussed them carefully with Bush in the past. Then, realizing that continuing the same path would not yield success or good results, … put his thoughts in writing to Bush. That made it public and forced Bush to fire Rumsfeld,” wrote "Dreamer,” a Navy veteran and businessman.
- “None of Rumsfeld’s ideas seem to be radical or politically unpalatable, so I’m confused as to why we wouldn’t try to implement them, unless there is an underlying agenda to maintain instability and conflict as an excuse for having an indefinite theater of operations against al-Qaida and/or to draw the Iranians into it, giving us an excuse to bomb their nuclear facilities,” wrote “rjr62.”
- “My question is, how do we know this leaked memo was written two days before Rummy was fired? Just because it has a typed date on a piece of paper? It could have been written and released the same day to cover Don’s assets,” wrote Deb.
Join the conversation at www.hotsoup.com
