I defended that clown on every web site I could find.
Bush is what got thrown out with the bath water.
He wanted MS Klinkton by trying to get Jebbie the nominee spot.
I carried that SOB's water for six years, until he fired Rumsfeld. Later, I really kicked myself when I read about the start of Iraq "reconstruction". The first man in charge was retired LTG Jay Garner. I knew him when he was a battalion commander in Germany. I was the XO of an Admin/Log detachment at the German training range at Todendorf. My job was to shadow the Battalion Cdr, to make sure they had everything they needed. Observing him for that week was an education in leadership. It was obvious his officers and soldiers loved him.
To this day, I'm convinced that his after-action report got me out of a lot of hot water back home. I was in charge most of the time, thanks to the CO dealing with personal problems back home, 400 miles away. Put it this way: when I returned in the fall, I was at Group HQ when I ran into a CW4 in the S-4 section. He told me, "seemed like every week I'd be walking in the hall and hear somebody mutter, 'did you hear what NHN did THIS week?"
It was all about getting the mission accomplished, and the results spoke for themselves. My troops did a great job, and the support agencies at Bremerhaven (200 miles away) all raved at how we handled our business.
He was recalled after about a month in Iraq, for the crime of saying publicly "his first priority is to hand Iraq back to the Iraqis as soon as possible...it's their country." Bush and Cheney couldn't abide that, with all the big contractors looking at big paydays.
I often ask myself, how many American lives would have been saved if Garner had stayed and done the job?
