Rumsfeld

The current Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, Gen. Peter Pace, had some interesting things to say in defense of Rumsfeld recently:

"As far as Pete Pace is concerned, this country is exceptionally well-served by the man standing on my left," General Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told reporters at the Pentagon. "Nobody, nobody works harder than he does to take care of the P.F.C.'s and lance corporals and lieutenants and the captains. He does his homework. He works weekends, he works nights.

"People can question my judgment or his judgment," he continued, "but they should never question the dedication, the patriotism and the work ethic of Secretary Rumsfeld."

That's almost a non-denial denial. To the best of my knowledge, none of the recent criticisms of Rumsfeld have involved his dedication, patriotism, or work ethic. In fact, I have little doubt that he is dedicated to something, works very hard, and considers himself to be a patriot. I think he's unbelievably stubborn, irresponsibly unwilling to face the possibility that he might be wrong, and mindnumbingly incompetent. Oh, and I definitely question his judgment, too.