After 21 month into the war and over 100billion spend, Rumsfeld finally
talkes to the soldiers (not generals) and guess what "I don't know what the
facts are"
Embarrassing to say the least.
But his boss gives him 4 more years to make a better military.
Who does these guys talk to? nobody that has the facts.
4 more years.
Where's the sticker "I didn't vote for him"?

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?
tmpl=story&cid=564&e=1&u=/nm/20041209/ts_nm/iraq_usa_rumsfeld_dc_11

Bush, Rumsfeld Try to Soothe Angry U.S. Troops

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Bush said on Thursday U.S. troop concerns
about inadequate equipment for Iraq combat are being addressed and he did
not blame soldiers for raising the issue with Defense Secretary Donald
Rumsfeld.

A day after he was bombarded with criticism from U.S. soldiers based in
Kuwait, Rumsfeld promised more would be done to protect forces. He also
said steps were being taken to deal with explosive devices, a leading cause
of death in Iraq, where more than 1,000 American soldiers have been killed
in action.

Since invading Iraq last year, administration critics have accused it of
failing to send adequate forces and armor to stabilize the country,
allowing the current bloody insurgency to develop.

The latest complaints put the administration further on the defensive. Bush
had rejected charges from Democratic challenger Sen. John Kerry in the
campaign for last month's election that military forces in Iraq did not
have sufficient protection.

"The concerns expressed are being addressed, and that is, we expect our
troops to have the best possible equipment. And if I were a soldier
overseas, wanting to defend my country, I'd want to ask the secretary of
defense the same question," Bush said.

He told reporters in an Oval Office event that he has been telling military
families that "we're doing everything we possibly can to protect your loved
ones in a mission which is vital and important."

California Rep. Nancy Pelosi, the Democratic Leader in the House of
Representatives, said Rumsfeld should be fired.

She said the Iraq war "began 21 months ago and Secretary Rumsfeld has still
not done what is necessary, which is his highest duty, to protect our
troops to the greatest degree possible. No CEO in America would retain a
manager with so clear a record of failure and neither should President
Bush."

Meeting with troops in Kuwait on Wednesday, Rumsfeld heard several
complaints, including one from Spc. Thomas Wilson that U.S. forces were
forced to dig up scrap metal to protect their vehicles in Iraq because of a
shortage of armored ones.

"CONSTRUCTIVE EXCHANGE"

"I don't know what the facts are but somebody's certainly going to sit down
with him and find out what he knows that they may not know, and make sure
he knows what they know that he may not know, and that's a good thing. I
think it's a very constructive exchange," Rumsfeld told reporters traveling
with him on Thursday in India, another stop on a regional tour.

As the military adjusts to changing tactics of the insurgency, it requires
different types of equipment and approaches, Rumsfeld said. "It doesn't
happen instantaneously, but it has been happening pretty rapidly," he said.

The criticism came just days after the White House announced Rumsfeld would
stay on in Bush's second-term Cabinet and the White House closed ranks
behind him.

"In terms of Secretary Rumsfeld, I think it's important for those at the
top of the chain of command to hear from those who wear the uniform,
especially those on the front lines in harm's way," said White House
spokesman Scott McClellan.

But late night television comedians seized on the issue, and comic Jay Leno
poked fun at Rumsfeld for saying that armor did not always provide
protection. "Then he got in his armored car and left," said Leno to laughs
from his audience.

In an apparent effort to damp down the political fallout the U.S. general
in charge of coalition ground forces in Iraq vowed on Thursday to make sure
that all American military vehicles - including trucks - driven into Iraq
in the future would contain at least minimal armor plating.

"And so we're continuing to work feverishly to ensure that they make our
requirement that nobody goes north without it," Army Lt. Gen. Steven
Whitcomb told Pentagon reporters in a hastily arranged teleconference from
Kuwait, where U.S. troops have been gathering before entering Iraq.

Whitcomb told reporters progress had been made since August of last year to
upgrade armor on "Humvee" jeeps, although the military was still about
2,000 short of 8,100 "up-armored" heavily-protected Humvees requested by
commanders in Iraq.

The House Armed Services Committee, meanwhile, released a list indicating
that only about 1,100 medium and heavy U.S. military trucks out of some
9,000 in the Iraq and Afghanistan regions had received needed protection
for their cabs.

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