Revolt of the Generals

Retired Major General Batiste: "The leaders need to be held accountable.By that I mean, we went to war with a flawed plan. We certainly had the troops necessary to win the fight to take down Saddam Hussein, but we in no way considered the hard work to win the peace. There was 10 years of good, deliberate war planning by U.S. Central Command that was essentially ignored."

Retired Maj. Gen. Swannack: "The Defense secretary "has micromanaged the generals" commanding troops in Iraq. Rumsfeld had "culpability" for the detainee abuse scandal at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison, and that he had failed to acknowledge his mistakes. I really believe that we need a new secretary of Defense because Secretary Rumsfeld carries way too much baggage with him."

Retired Lieut. General Greg Newbold: "I am driven to action now by the missteps and misjudgments of the White House and the Pentagon, and by my many painful visits to our military hospitals. In those places, I have been both inspired and shaken by the broken bodies but unbroken spirits of soldiers, Marines and corpsmen returning from this war. The cost of flawed leadership continues to be paid in blood. With the encouragement of some still in positions of military leadership, I offer a challenge to those still in uniform: a leader's responsibility is to give voice to those who can't--or don't have the opportunity to--speak. Enlisted members of the armed forces swear their oath to those appointed over them; an officer swears an oath not to a person but to the Constitution. The distinction is important.

Retired Major General Eaton: "Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld is not competent to lead America's armed forces. First, his failure to build coalitions with U.S. allies from what he dismissively called "old Europe" has imposed far greater demands and risks on American soldiers in Iraq than necessary. Second, he alienated his allies in the U.S. military, ignoring the advice of seasoned officers and denying subordinates any chance for input. In sum, he has shown himself incompetent strategically, operationally and tactically and is far more than anyone else responsible for what has happened to America's mission in Iraq. Rumsfeld must step down."

Retired General Zinni: “"Regardless of whose responsibility I think it is, somebody has screwed up. ... it should be evident to everybody that they've screwed up. And whose heads are rolling on this?...There has been poor strategic thinking in this. There has been poor operational planning and execution on the ground. And to think that we are going to ‘stay the course,’ the course is headed over Niagara Falls. I think it's time to change course a little bit, or at least hold somebody responsible for putting you on this course. Because it's been a failure.”

Army Maj. Gen. John Riggs: "Everyone pretty much thinks Rumsfeld and the bunch around him should be cleared out...Rumsfeld and his advisers have made fools of themselves, and totally underestimated what would be needed for a sustained conflict."

As a side note: besieged by bush at Daily Kos has an excellent article up. Besieged also explains:

For those not aware, "revolt of the generals" is a play off a major civil-military confrontation over direction of a military service, the Revolt of the Admirals almost 60 years ago.