The Battle Against Rumsfeld’s Defenders

The Jan. 7 commentary by David B. Rivkin Jr. and Rich Lowry, “The War Against Rumsfeld,” conveniently avoids mentioning that the rush to invade Iraq created most of the issues they discuss. If we hadn’t been flooded with the mushroom-cloud threats supposedly awaiting us, perhaps the invasion would have been rejected as unnecessary, or, at the very least, we could have taken time to assemble allies with actual forces, arm our troops properly and analyze all contingency plans.

The statement that the military commanders believed our forces to be sufficient is simply ludicrous. The entire world and half of this country was against this war, many of whom predicted exactly what is happening now. How much longer are we going to have to be subjected to this drivel?

Barbara Slockbower

New Milford, N.J.

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Rivkin and Lowry’s apologia for Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld was hilarious. The way they coddle him, you’d think he was a kid getting beaten up by bullies.

Argument No. 1: Rumsfeld couldn’t have predicted the insurgency. Answer: It’s just common sense to plan for an insurgency when you invade and occupy a foreign country.

Argument No. 2: Rumsfeld couldn’t wait for more troops before the invasion because we might lose our coalition. Answer: What coalition?

Argument No. 3: Rumsfeld couldn’t wait for more troops because we might lose the element of surprise. Answer: Nobody was surprised, when our leaders were publicly itching to start this war and were building up our presence in the Persian Gulf region for months before the invasion.

Argument No. 4: Liberals must stop assaulting Rumsfeld for wanting to update the military and for saying, “You go to war with the army you have.” Either they want a different army or the same army. Answer: They want the same army but prepared for the contingency in argument No. 1.

Lowry and Rivkin’s coup de grace is to take those to task who make it sound as if war is easy. They are right. The Bush administration, including Rumsfeld, should never have talked about being greeted as liberators or the occupation paying for itself. It doesn’t matter if they won reelection. Popularity is no substitute for good policy.

Branden Frankel

Newport Beach