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General rejects peers' claims

He says there was "tremendous access" to Donald Rumsfeld ahead of the Iraq war.

By ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published April 17, 2006

WASHINGTON - Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld did not intimidate members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff during planning of the Iraq war as some retired generals have charged, a former chairman said Sunday.

Richard Myers, the Air Force general who was chairman of the Joint Chiefs from 2001 until last fall, dismissed criticism that military leaders failed to stand up to Rumsfeld and President Bush when they disagreed with those civilian officials.

"We gave him our best military advice, and I think that's what we're obligated to do," Myers said on This Week on ABC. "If we don't do that, we should be shot."

Former NATO commander Gen. Wesley Clark, speaking on Fox News on Saturday, became the latest retired officer to call for Rumsfeld's resignation. They cited mistakes in the conduct of the war in Iraq, and some have suggested that intimidation by Rumsfeld kept military leaders quiet even when they thought policies were flawed.

"You'd have to believe that everybody in the chain of command is intimidated, and I don't believe that," Myers said. He added that Rumsfeld allowed "tremendous access" for presenting arguments.

"In our system, when it's all said and done ... the civilians make the decisions," he said. "And we live by those decisions."

However, for the first time since his retirement, Myers weighed in on the administration's handling of a statement on troop levels made in 2003 by a former Army chief of staff, Gen. Eric K. Shinseki, who is retired.

Shinseki, who commanded the NATO peacekeeping force in Bosnia, testified in Congress in February 2003 that peacekeeping operations in Iraq could require several hundred thousand troops, in part because it was a country with "the kinds of ethnic tensions that could lead to other problems." Days later Paul Wolfowitz, then the second-ranking official at the Pentagon, called the estimate "wildly off the mark," a sentiment that Rumsfeld repeated.

"He was inappropriately criticized, I believe, for speaking out," Myers said on This Week .

Bush on Friday said that Rumsfeld "has my full support" and praised the defense secretary "for his leadership during this historic and challenging time for our nation."

On Sunday's news shows, Republican lawmakers either backed Rumsfeld or declined to take issue with Bush's support for him. Democrats continued to call for a change in Pentagon leadership.

Sen. George Allen, R-Va., suggested that people are looking for a "scapegoat," yet he called the retired generals who have criticized Rumsfeld "people of credibility."

Allen, on CBS's Face the Nation , questioned whether replacing Rumsfeld would have any impact on the insurgents in Iraq, the training of security forces there or on how Iraqi leaders form their government.

Sen. Richard Lugar, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said that Bush is making "a good call" in retaining Rumsfeld. Facing a large agenda of foreign policy issues, the president should not be distracted by operational disputes, said Lugar, R-Ind.

Sen. Evan Bayh, D-Ind., who called for Rumsfeld to resign two years ago, said the issue now is about "the president's decisionmaking and judgment."

Bush's inability to put more important concerns ahead of keeping Rumsfeld as defense secretary "is not healthy for our country," Bayh said in a joint appearance with Lugar on This Week .

Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., told Fox News Sunday that criticism from retired generals "is a very, very important event."

"We ought to pay a lot of attention," Dodd said. "And the president would be very wise, in my view, asking him to step aside."

The retired military officials urging Rumsfeld to step down include Maj. Gen. John Batiste, who commanded the 1st Infantry Division in Iraq; Maj. Gen. Charles Swannack, who led the Army's 82nd Airborne Division in Iraq; and Clark.

The others are Major Gen. Paul Eaton, Gen. Anthony Zinni, Lt. Gen. Gregory Newbold and Major Gen. John Riggs.

--Information from the New York Times and New York Daily News was used in this report.

[Last modified April 17, 2006, 01:21:17]