[But outbreaks of violence in New Orleans hinted at the potential for wider unrest and further call-ups, which could reveal weaknesses elsewhere in the nation.] What do we do if there is a terrorist attack? ... We're increasing our risk. |
A timetable would provide an incentive. As long as we're there, there's no incentive for (Iraqis) to get their act together. |
And here's Rumsfeld. Among other things, he just stayed too long. |
But on balance I'd say we had a net loss. Unfortunately, these other issues dominated that expose the US to charges of hypocrisy. |
I think he has now bought himself some time to withdraw slowly. But that assumes everything goes as planned next year. |
It says something about what the professional military is thinking. It's like they're saying, 'I thought these guys knew what they were doing. |
No secretary of defense who has ever stayed more than one term has ever turned out well. McNamara and Weinberger, both if they had left at the end of their first term would have gone down in history much differently. |
The real issue here is that you have a policy that is costing us money, hurting readiness and is really not fulfilling any national security objective. |
There's been an increase in the number of Iraqis in training, but more Americans are dying and violence is increasing. |
They haven't made the hard choices. You can't fund all of these weapons systems. |
They're doing it because they're desperate. |
This British guy makes a lot of good points. |
This is still a man's profession, with a lot of men who intellectually and emotionally have not accepted that the military could be women's work. |
We need to stop spending money on those weapons systems that do not advance national security. |
What it's going to mean is some short-term gains, but a long-term disaster. You're going to have less research and development as you get down to probably four major companies. |