General Shelton: Rumsfeld was the devil in the form of a defense secretary

[ensho]

http://ricks.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2010/10/11/general_shelton_rumsfeld_was_the_devil_in_the_form_of_a_defense_secretary


That's basically the impression I took away from reading Without Hesitation, the memoirs of retired Gen. Hugh Shelton, who was chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff from 1997 to 2001. Boy is he steamed.

There are plenty of other people Shelton pings in the book, most notably John McCain. But the unquestionable No. 1 villain of the book is the former secretary of defense who, in Shelton's telling, elevated his old Princeton wrestling techniques into a management philosophy. "The McNamara-Rumsfeld model," as Shelton calls it, was "based on deception, deceit, working political agendas, and trying to get the Joint Chiefs to support an action that might not be the right thing to do for the country but would work well for the President from a political standpoint." (401) (As an experiment, I'm including page numbers -- should I continue doing this in future book discussions?) He adds, "It was the worst style of leadership I witnessed in 38 years of service." (413)

-snip-

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. (424)

This book is different from other senior generals' memoirs I've read, such as those by Colin Powell, Norman Schwarzkopf, and Tommy R. Franks. Hugh Shelton's telling stories and naming names. The first half of the book is a rather dull account of his earlier career, but that changes in his relation of his last year as chairman of the Joint Chiefs, in 2001.

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now here is a book that should go to #1 !

we can watch as the neo cons fire shots at Shelton

[RaleighNCDUer]

1. K& R

I'll be looking for this.

[uponit7771]

2. Yeap, the last 8 yrs oozes negative hateful forces

[butterfly77]

3. He was and still is...

full of shit along with rumsfeld and the rest,trying to rehabilitate their reputations and getting rich writing BUSHIT and nonsense..

Isn't he the same mf who was over in Iraq telling them all they needed to be a Christian? or something relating to religion.,

[Blue Owl]

4. Donald "Optional War at Any Cost" Rumsfeld

His work is certainly in the realm of dark forces.

[Uben]

5. Rumsfeld is a traitor.....

...and should be put on trial for it. Scum like that should at least be deported. I know of no military officer more offensive than Rumsfeld. He did not listen to the generals that were much more intelligent than he was because of his neo-con stance. We should make him the poster boy for treason!

[Arkana]

6. Somehow that Charlie Daniels song is running through my head right now.