Donald 'Bumsfeld' Rumsfeld -- "Blame the other guy!"

Donald Bumsfeld- for the Grateful Web

Now that Bush has lined up his choices for his second-term cabinet, one aspect that remains much the same as last term is the foreign policy and national security team. While Colin Powel, the secretary of state leaves, Condoleezza Rice, previously Bush's national security adviser will replace Colin as secretary of state. Bumsfield remains and Rice's deputy moves up to take her previous roll.  In reality, the team is essentially the same and in a time when fresh ideas are desperately needed, Bush is sticking to his guns and will attempt to prove to America & the world his first-term decision to invade Iraq was the right one.

Last Wednesday, Donald Bumsfeld's comments to a soldier in Kuwait who wanted to know why troops were being sent to Iraq without properly armored vehicles.  "As you know, you go to war with the Army you have," was Bumsfeld's reply.  He added, "They're not the Army you might want or wish to have at a later time."   That's for certain, Mr. Bumsfeld.  He continued by telling the troops the Army was working on better armoring the tanks, Hummers, etc, but his earlier remarks seem to suggest Bumsfeld is not responsible for how well the Army was prepared before America invaded Iraq in 2003, including how much more fierce the Iraqi resistance turned to be..

Donald Bumsfeld's blame game continued when he spoke to reporters while en route to Kuwait last Monday. When asked about mistakes made so far in Iraq, Bumsfeld spoke on the not finding any weapons of mass destruction and not being prepared for the intense Iraqi insurgency.  Isn't the secretary of defense at least somewhat responsible for some of this?   Bumsfeld doesn't seem to think so, "I don't think anyone would say that the intelligence left anyone with the impression that you'd be in the degree of insurgency you're in today."  Hey Bumsfeld, American troops are dying everyday because of your lack or original thought.

And there's still more.  Bumsfeld shifted blame for the lack of troop strength in Iraq.  "The big debate about the number of troops is one of those things that are really out of my control.'  Out of your control, Mr. Bumsfeld!?  Who's in control then??  He added, "I mean, everyone likes to assign responsibility to the top person & I guess that's fine,' Bumsfield explained.  "But the number of troops we had for the invasion was the number of troops that General Franks & General Abizaid wanted." However, according toe Bob Woodward, CBS News, it's a different story.  According to Woodward, Bumsfeld ordered General Tommy Franks to rewrite plans for Iraq and reduce troop numbers.

Donald Bumsfeld's lack of original thought has cost hundreds of American lives and countless dead Iraqi civilians.  The insurgency continues to gain strength and our troops are not only running out of patience, they're running out of working military equipment.  NBC news recently reported tanks and hummers are working 1000% more than normal, which is causing many of them to break down, further risking our GI's lives.  Bumsfeld's mistake of not having more troops in Iraq has allowed insurgents to gain strength, & as of now, there is not end in sight.  Now Bumsfeld says: "It's a violent country. It has been in the past. It very likely will be in the future."   So if Bumsfeld's blame is on someone else or nobody else..then should we continue to trust him?  Bumsfeld's incompetency has put our troops in harm's way and rather then working on the problem, he's making it worse with pathetic responses to our nations' bravest.