Generals to blast 'incompetent' Rumsfeld before Senate hearing

Brian Beutler
Published: Monday September 25, 2006

RAW STORY has obtained the prepared testimony of three senior military officers—all retired—in which they will harshly criticize the administration’s conduct of the war in Iraq to members of the United States Senate.

The hearings were scheduled to begin at 1:30 PM, EST.

Retired Major General Paul Eaton is set to tell lawmakers that Rumsfeld is "incompetent strategically, operationally and tactically."

John R.S. Batiste, another retired army general, is to deliver perhaps the most startling testimony, wherein he will describe his reasons for leaving after 31 years of service.

"I walked away from promotion and a promising future serving our country," the retired serviceman is set to say. "I hung up my uniform because I came to the gut-wrenching realization that I could do more good for my soldiers and their families out of uniform."

He is set to continue: "Donald Rumsfeld is not a competent wartime leader. He knows everything, except 'how to win.' He surrounds himself with like-minded and compliant subordinates who do not grasp the importance of the principles of war, the complexities of Iraq, or the human dimension of warfare. Secretary Rumsfeld ignored 12 years of U.S. Central Command deliberate planning and strategy, dismissed honest dissent, and browbeat subordinates to build 'his plan,' which did not address the hard work to crush the insurgency, secure a post-Saddam Iraq, build the peace, and set Iraq up for self-reliance."

Other testimony will be equally critical of the defense secretary, whom many have charged with negligent conduct of the war and a paralyzing unwillingness to change tactics.

But the testimony does not rely entirely on professional criticism of defense officials. Retired Marine Corps Colonel Thomas X. Hammes outlines a series of strategic policies, including unifying the command structure, which currently cuts across many layers of government. That, he says, would improve chances for success in Iraq.