General: Rumsfeld to Blame for Iraq War Quagmire

Here is another example of a gung-ho military officer who has turned against Rumsfeld's incompetent running of the war:

"Even some lifelong conservatives aren't hearing the president's message anymore.

'I've turned him off,' said retired Marine Col. Jim Van Riper. 'I've tuned him out.'

Van Riper is a Christian, card-carrying member of the National Rifle Association who voted for President Bush twice. But as more Marines have died, his confidence in the Bush administration has died as well."

And how did the Iraq War become a quagmire? Ask the General who help planned the war:

"Months before the United States invaded Iraq in 2003, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld forbade military strategists from developing plans for securing a post-war Iraq, the retiring commander of the Army Transportation Corps said Thursday."

Rumsfeld would not hear it:

"Rumsfeld did replace Gen. Eric Shinseki, the Army chief of staff in 2003, after Shinseki told Congress that hundreds of thousands of troops would be needed to secure post-war Iraq."

General Scheid wondered then although no one has questioned since then the wisdom of fighting two wars simultaneously:

"Scheid said he remembers everyone thinking, 'My gosh, we're in the middle of Afghanistan, how can we possibly be doing two at one time? How can we pull this off? It's just going to be too much.'"

What do you when you've botched up a war that you are responsible for? Rumsfeld has decided to cover up the number of deaths occurring in the Iraq War:

"In a distinction previously undisclosed, U.S. military spokesman Lt. Col. Barry Johnson said Friday that the United States is including in its tabulations of sectarian violence only deaths of individuals killed in drive-by shootings or by torture and execution.

That has allowed U.S. officials to boast that the number of deaths from sectarian violence in Baghdad declined by more than 52 percent in August over July."

And while Americans are fighting and dying for their country over in Iraq, their boss' company is charging our government (thus the American people) for food never served, for big screen TVs never enjoyed by our troops, or Internet sites never surfed:

"Halliburton subsidiary Kellogg, Brown & Root charged millions to the government for recreational services never provided to U.S. troops in Iraq, including giant tubs of chicken wings and tacos, a widescreen TV, and cheese sticks meant for a military Super Bowl party, according to a federal whistle-blower suit unsealed Friday."