HIGH-TECH RUMSFELD UNDER FIRE

Conflict among Republicans over the Warfare Strategy of their Secretary of Defense

By Rainer Rupp

[This article originally published in: junge Welt 12/17/2004 is translated from the German on the World Wide Web, http://www.jungewelt.de/2004/12-17/008.php.]




Although president George W. Bush will keep the Secretary of Defense in his second term in office, Donald Rumsfeld is again in the cross fire of criticism even from his own republicans. The catalyst was Rumsfeld’s visit last week at a US reinforcement unit in Kuwait. After urging “his” soldiers to ask him “hard questions”, he met the strident criticism of GIs on account of “serious shortages in supplies.” Rumsfeld reacted very annoyed: “One marches into war with the army one has, not with the army one would like at a later time.”

Criticism is spreading in the US media and from two of the most respected republican senators amid increasing reports about sinking morale in the US army and 5000 desertions. In interviews, Senator John McCain repeated that he had “no confidence in the Secretary of Defense.” Senator Chick Hagel stressed that his criticism went “far beyond” the question of troop supplies. Both senators reproached Rumsfeld for marching into Iraq with “irresponsibly” few soldiers. This conflict is over different conceptions of warfare.

With the Iraq adventure, Rumsfeld and his neoconservative hawks wanted to give the world and especially the countries of the Middle East a lesson in military high-tech: that the US could quickly conquer and rule any country with a few ground troops supported by the most overwhelming power of the US air force. The key message should be: the US can wage several wars simultaneously at any time nearly “free of charge.” Rumsfeld failed in Iraq. His appearance in Kuwait encouraged sarcastic comments in the American media.

Recent developments show that despite Bush’s reelection the status of his administration in his own party is weaker than a year ago. Asked about Bush’s retention of Rumsfeld in the Pentagon, Senator Hagel replied: “That is the decision of the president. He has to live with the decision. He will have to justify this decision himself.”