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STATEMENT
OF HOUSE ARMED SERVICES COMMITTEE CHAIRMAN
REGARDING SECRETARY OF DEFENSE DONALD RUMSFELD
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Donald Rumsfeld is doing a good job.
As
Chairman of the House Armed Services
Committee, I have found Secretary Rumsfeld to
be an effective manager of our military forces
in the war on terrorism.
Whether he is an effective leader of our
military department, not his friendships on
Capitol Hill, should and must be the basis on
which he is judged.
One-million three hundred thousand active
Army, Marine Corps, Navy and Air Force
personnel have their well-being and in some
cases their lives dependent on Secretary
Rumsfeld's judgment.
That
judgment, in operating against terrorist
forces in two major theaters, Iraq and
Afghanistan, has been excellent.
Both
theaters are complex and dangerous, requiring
innovation and constant work with theater
military leadership and allies.
Any
Secretary of Defense today has hundreds of
issues crossing his desk daily. He cannot
allow any single issue to dominate his agenda.
The
abuses at Abu Ghraib prison, which have
resulted in six military personnel being
recommended for courts-martial are, in
isolation, serious. However, the proposition
that Secretary Rumsfeld should drop his focus
on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and devote
all his time to Congressional and media
hand-holding, is not acceptable.
A
Secretary of Defense, to be effective, must
keep working.
Secretary Rumsfeld's military commander in
Iraq, General Sanchez, immediately initiated
an investigation on January 16, 2004, and
announced that investigation to the world
media at the same time. The investigation
resulted, to-date, with three persons being
recommended to the U.S. Army Court Martial
Convening Authority for general
courts-martial.
Simply put, the wheels of Army justice are
moving and, as the nation knows, will move
much quicker than the domestic justice
system.
Now,
the Secretary must be allowed to get back to
work on the war and the 135,000 troops in Iraq
who are serving with honor and courage.
In
our nation's history, we have at times had
defense leaders who were picked because of
connections with the political establishment.
Invariably, these appointments, political in
nature, resulted in increased casualties on
the battlefield.
Even
Rumsfeld's enemies must concede that the
Secretary's strong point is his effectiveness
in the war theaters.
In
war that should be the only thing.
We are at war; we need Secretary Rumsfeld.
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