Farewell Rumsfeld

It was only fitting that outgoing secretary of defense, Donald H. Rumsfeld, decided to pay a surprise visit to Iraq this weekend in a very good gesture of bidding farewell to the men and women he managed for so long.

Secretary Rumsfeld said when addressing the troops, “We feel great urgency to protect the American people from another 9/11 or a 9/11 times two or three,”

“At the same time, we need to have the patience to see this task through to success,” he said. “The consequences of failure are unacceptable.”

Today was day two, of what American military officials said was Mr. Rumsfeld’s farewell visit to the troops. An American military spokesperson said Mr. Rumsfeld was scheduled to travel to other bases outside Baghdad today before returning to Washington.

I for one am going to greatly miss secretary Rumsfeld, there was times that I would read of something and wonder if he had control, only to learn he had been totally out of the loop when it occurred. The majority of the time I felt something for him that I do not often feel for any politician, respect. Rumsfeld was assigned an impossible task with limited equipment and manpower and saw the invasion through in classic George S. Patton style. In the early days of WWII, the very idea of going up against a German tiger tank would have the crew one of our Sherman M4 tanks sweating at the thought. Our tanks did not fare well in a head to head against a tiger tank.

General Patton quickly solved that problem and the other one of small cities with encamped enemy troops bogging down his advance, at the same time. Why fight head on, the Sherman is more maneuverable, attack in pairs or more and fight from the sides. Worked just as the plan was conceived. The second, the small cities bogging down his advance was classic Patton doctrine, go around them and deal with them another time, reach the objective, get the glory and all is well in the world. I miss George S. Patton; he was one of my personal heroes.

I will miss secretary of defense, Donald H. Rumsfeld too and it is a shame the politicians win again, H. Clinton must be very proud of herself. Let us see what she can do if she is faced with these same situations.

Farewell secretary of defense, Donald H. Rumsfeld, God speed and thanks for the memories.