
 |
|
February 10, 2012
Lisa M. Krieger: Man with defibrillator demands access to his own heart's information
David G. Savage: Why activists may not be in a hurry to have High Court rule on alternative marriage
February 9, 2012
Laura McMullen: 10 Least Expensive Public Schools for Out-of-State Students
Kimberly Palmer: How to actually enjoy -- relaxing, financially -- your vacation
February 8, 2012
Warren Richey: Why momentous Prop. 8 ruling might not satisfy gay-rights groups
Menachem Wecker: Though Controversial, LL.M.'s Can Lead to Specialized Legal Jobs
The Kosher Gourmet byDana Velden: Going to the bother of making soup? You know it better be good. This CREAM OF TOMATO SOUP certainly is! And it's a cinch to make, too (Includes techinques and serving secrets)
February 7, 2012
Frank J. Gaffney, Jr.: Caught off-guard? President's Super Bowl interview with Matt Lauer gives those who need a reason not to vote for him, a darn good one
Suzanne Bohan: Leaping lizards! Tiny reptiles advancing robot design
February 6, 2012
Jonathan Tobin: Iran Threatens Israel With Destruction, But the New York Times Doesn't Hear It
Jeffrey Fleishman: In newly democratic Egypt, tens of democracy activists jailed, to stand trial; their groups are 'threatening the stability of the homeland'
Julie Deardorff : Researchers say antioxidants may not be that effective and could do more harm than good
Mark Clayton: How did Anonymous hackers eavesdrop on FBI and Scotland Yard?
February 3, 2012
Edmund Sanders : Israeli official says Iran is creating missile that could reach East Coast of US
Victoria Kim: Immigrant-smuggling ring used black drivers to avoid racial profiling
February 2, 2012
Jim Carney: Wrong number call may have saved her life
Reza Kahlili : Ex-CIA spy in Iran's Revolutionary Guard: What Obama doesn't grasp about striking deals with Tehran
Tina Susman: For woodchuck rescuer, every day is Groundhog Day
February 1, 2012
Brian Bennett: US officials see increasing threat of domestic attack from Iran
Emily Brandon: How to Take Advantage of New 401(k) Fee Disclosures
January 31, 2012
January 30, 2012
Paul Richter and Ramin Mostaghim: Misreading Teheran's limits -- deadly and economically devastating as they may be -- is a risk administration, Europe seem willing to take
Suzanne Bohan: Warning: Nap-deprived tots missing more than sleep, study finds
Meg Handley: Banks Revamping Rewards Programs to Woo Customers
January 27, 2012
Caroline B. Glick: Obama: Of course I intend to prevent a nuclear holocaust . . . in a few months
Yochonon Donn: In liberal New York City, fervently-Orthodox Jews may soon be getting a district to call their own
Jeannine Stein: An inflated ego and thinking you're 'all that' doesn't just make others sick of you, it can make you ill
Katy Hopkins: New budget rules may affect how much money you get for college
January 26, 2012
Ed Koch: To the New York Times, calling for the murder of Jews by those capable of having their incitement taken seriously isn't news
Jeannine Stein: Mental illness struck one in five U.S. adults in 2010: Report
January 25, 2012
Richard Simon: House passes two bills endorsing the use of religious symbols at military memorials
Fred Weir: Putin: Multiethnic Russia cannot survive as a US-style 'melting pot'; must find its own way
Susan Johnston: 5 Sneaky Coupon Strategies Consumers Should Watch Out For
January 24, 2012
Carol Clark: The price of your soul: How your brain decides whether to 'sell out'
Caroline B. Glick: America lost most in 'Arab Spring'. Sadly, many voters still don't grasp the extent
Warren Richey: Drug criminal scores win in GPS ruling from conservative-leaning high court
Erika Bolstad: Black conservatives gather to talk about gaining strength
January 23, 2012
Melissa Dribben: Jewish voters to play a key role in Florida's Republican primary
Jordan Rau: In quest to grow, Catholic hospital system will announce this morning its break from church
Ali Safi: U.S. envoy gives Taliban terms for peace talks
January 19, 2012
January 18, 2012
January 17, 2012
Frank J. Gaffney Jr.: No-kidding red lines: U.S. response to an Iranian nuke may be bluster, but Israel's won't be
David G. Savage: They sued their principals after slandering them online --- now the cases are headed to the Supreme Court
David Francis: Where to Invest in 2012: With stocks expected to rebound, opportunity abounds for investors
January 13, 2012
Ben Lynfield: Israeli lawmakers move to annex Jewish Judea, one museum at a time
Alexia Elejalde-Ruiz: Thriving through touch: Gentle massage helps older people with low mobility improve in mind and body
January 12, 2012
Warren Richey: Landmark Supreme Court ruling a 'resounding win' for religious groups
Warren Richey: Supreme Court says no to new rule on eyewitness testimony
John Fauber : Statins found to raise diabetes risk in postmenopausal women
Katy Hopkins : Consider This Before You Pay for an Online Degree
The Kosher Gourmet by Joseph Erdos: This mushroom and barley soup has an intense -- almost nutty -- flavor that mixes robust with Middle East. It has creaminess without cream
January 11, 2012
Shari Roan: Millions of atrial fibrillation sufferers at risk for devastating, but preventable, stroke
Tom Hussain: Pakistan -- recipient of more than $21 billion in civilian and military aid -- speeds pursuit of Iranian pipeline, defying US
David G. Savage: High court signals it won't be loosening TV's 'indecency' rules
Stephen Ceasar: Oklahoma's Islamic law amendment can't go into effect, court rules
January 10, 2012
Reza Kahlili: From an ex-CIA spy: US must exploit new split in Iran's Revolutionary Guard
Karen Kaplan: Study: Nicotine replacement products ineffective when used in real-life situations
January 9, 2012
Michael Doyle: Put through legal hell over dream home, couple fought back hard --- all the way to Supreme Court
|
| |
Jewish World Review
Sept. 27, 2005
/ 23 Elul, 5765
Go, Rummy, go home
By
Jack Kelly
| >
|
|
|
|
http://www.JewishWorldReview.com |
It saddens me to write these words, because I respect and admire him so.
But it's time for Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld to move on.
Rummy, on balance, has been a terrific secretary of defense.
Rumsfeld's efforts to reform a baroque, wasteful, and frequently corrupt
Pentagon procurement process have been heroic.
What Rumsfeld has done to seize the high ground in space, and to advance
ballistic missile defense will benefit this nation for decades to come.
Rumsfeld shook the military out of Cold War thinking and an obsolescent Cold
War basing structure. He has been the driving force behind a long overdue
and badly needed transformation.
And those of us in the heartland will always fondly remember Rummy for
demonstrating so vividly, in their interchanges in the early stages of the
Iraq war, that the Pentagon press corps is "stuck on stupid."
But the balance is shifting. Rumsfeld has always had flaws (as do we all),
and his flaws have caught up with his many virtues.
My concerns about Rumsfeld are both stylistic and substantive.
Rumsfeld's management of the department of defense has been highlighted by
two techniques "wire brushing" and "snowflakes" that have long since
passed the point of diminishing returns.
"Giving someone the wire brush means chewing them out, typically in a way
that's demeaning to their stature," explained Thomas Barnett in a favorable
profile of Rumsfeld in Esquire in August. "It's pinning their ears back,
throwing out question after question you know they can't answer correctly
and then attacking every single syllable they toss up from their defensive
crouch. It's verbal bullying at its best."
"Wire brushing" was at first arguably necessary to shake generals and
admirals out of parochial service concerns and Cold War modes of thinking,
but it is inherently disrespectful of general officers, the most competent
and dedicated public servants we have.
Another characteristic of Rumsfeld's management style are memoranda asking
pointed questions to which subordinates are supposed to drop everything in
order to respond. There are so many of these that people in the Pentagon
refer to them as "snowflakes."
The sheer volume of "snowflakes" makes all management in the Pentagon crisis
management. This is exhausting, hard on the morale of subordinates, and
detrimental to long range planning. Not even Eskimos can tolerate
"snowflakes" every single day.
Rumsfeld is almost always the smartest man in any room he enters. The
problem is, he is too well aware of this.
In this way, Rumsfeld reminds me of General Douglas MacArthur, a gifted
military man too well aware of his own gifts. In the end, he accomplished
less than Dwight Eisenhower, a man of more modest (though still substantial)
gifts, but who was modest about them.
There is another similarity between MacArthur and Rumsfeld. MacArthur chose
for his closest aides sycophants more noted for their loyalty to the Great
Man than for their abilities. To the limited extent that Rumsfeld takes
advice, he takes it mostly from a small coterie of intellectuals whose
combined military experience is zero, and whose management experience is not
much greater.
Rumsfeld was a terrific CEO in the private sector, but this, too, is
sometimes a problem in the Pentagon. In business, efficiency and
effectiveness overlap so much they are virtually synonyms.
This isn't true in the military, where efficiency is often the enemy of
effectiveness. It's efficient to use just enough force to accomplish what
you need to do. But that's not what's effective in war. If your enemy
shows up with a knife, bring a gun. If he has a gun, bring a howitzer,
preferably two.
On the substantive level, I don't think Rummy "gets" ground warfare. He was
hugely wrong and "wire brushing" victim Gen. Eric Shinseki completely
right about the number of troops required to pacify Iraq. Still, he
persists in trying to fight the war with too few troops.
In a war that's being fought almost entirely by the Army and Marine Corps,
this is a big failing. Army officers think Rumsfeld has it in for them. I
don't think that is true. But when a perception is as widespread as this
one is, it becomes a reality.
Rumsfeld has, on balance, been a great secretary of defense. But the longer
he remains in office, the less likely it is that he'll be remembered that
way.
Every weekday JewishWorldReview.com publishes what many in in the media and Washington consider "must-reading". Sign up for the daily JWR update. It's free. Just click here.
JWR contributor Jack Kelly, a former Marine and Green Beret, was a
deputy assistant secretary of the Air Force in the Reagan
administration. Comment by clicking here.
Jack Kelly Archives
© 2005, Jack Kelly
|
|

Arnold Ahlert
Mitch Albom
Jay Ambrose
Michael Barone
Barrywood
Tony Blankley
Lori Borgman
Stratfor Briefing
Mona Charen
Linda Chavez
Richard Z. Chesnoff
Ann Coulter
Greg Crosby
Alan Douglas
Larry Elder
Suzanne Fields
Frank J. Gaffney
Bernie Goldberg
Jonah Goldberg
Julia Gorin
Jonathan Gurwitz
Paul Greenberg
Argus Hamilton
Victor Davis Hanson
Betsy Hart
Ron Hart
Nat Hentoff
Marybeth Hicks
David Horowitz
Jeff Jacoby
Renee James
Paul Johnson
Jack Kelly
Ed Koch
Ch. Krauthammer
Michael Ledeen
John Leo
David Limbaugh
Kathryn Lopez
Rich Lowry
Michelle Malkin
Jackie Mason
Ann McFeatters
Dale McFeatters
Dana Milbank
Jeanne Moos
Dick Morris
Jim Mullen
Deroy Murdock
Judge A. Napolitano
Bill O'Reilly
Kathleen Parker
Star Parker
Dennis Prager
Wesley Pruden
Tom Purcell
Sharon Randall
Robert Robb
Cokie & Steve Roberts
Heather Robinson
Pat Sajak
Debra J. Saunders
Martin Schram
Culture Shlock
David Shribman
Roger Simon
Michael Smerconish
Thomas Sowell
Ben Stein
Mark Steyn
John Stossel
Cal Thomas
Dan Thomasson
Bob Tyrrell
Ben Wattenberg
Diana West
Dave Weinbaum
George Will
Walter Williams
Byron York
ZeitGeist
Mort Zuckerman

Robert Arial
Chuck Asay
Baloo
Chip Bok
Dry Bones
Lisa Benson
John Branch
John Cole
J. D. Crowe
John Deering
Brian Duffy
Everything's Relative
Mallard Fillmore
Glenn Foden
Jake Fuller
Bob Gorrel
Joe Heller
David Hitch
Jerry Holbert
Lee Judge
Steve Kelley
Jeff Koterba
Dick Locher
Jimmy Margulies
Rick McKee
Michael Ramirez
Kevin Siers
Jeff Stahler
Ed Stein
Danna Summers
John Trever
Gary Varvel
Kirk Walters

Mr. Know-It-All
Dr. Peter Gott
GET A JOB! by Marty Nemko
Richard Lederer
Frugal Living
Tech Maven
On Nutrition
Bookmark These
Bruce Williams
|