Bush at War Segment II

Sorry, got ahead of myself, here's my take on the 2nd segment - this was setting the stage for what sides would run the show in Afghanistan. It was fascinating to see faces and names we know described in very personal/fighting ways. Tenet got shafted, there's no question that Bush had originally tagged him to run the Afghan op, but Rumsfeild gave him an ultimatum? I find that hard to believe - you walk into the oval and say either the CIA works for me or this doesn't work? However it came down, Rummy had Cheney's backing and I think that helped to decide it - can you imagine him saying to dubya, "they didn't see the fucking wall coming down until the bricks hit em' in the head, let the DoD do this sir."

Hey and look, Jambo was right, he had a point about the CIA. Although I did like that one CIA chieftain, Black or something - "I want their heads impaled on spikes." Ouch.

Rummy won, but they still portray him as a cocky self-centered old man - I always liked his personal style to be honest.

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And by the way, I was going to do every section, but they're all there for us to see, & I given you my overall synopsis so from this point on I'm going to only post on the more interesting aspects, like the Rummy/Powell stuff or respond to points you guys post, instead of feeling compelled to point out every bias I find. I've decided haven't the time nor energy to do that with a two hour PBS "documentary."

In that vein Titus thought it criminal that Rumsfeld would drag his feet in aiding the CIA, or activating the 2nd part after the agency had put all the players in place on the ground. If that's true I would agree its unforgivable, however they just leave that inference out there never having it confirmed that he was holding up operations just to have a pissing match on whose lead dog with Tenet (& endangering our chances of getting Bin Laden). Its guesswork to infer that's what Rummy did, it calls for conjecture, it's leading the witness/viewer. By the way the president is the CIC, if he thought those troops should be in NOW, then why weren't they? I don't understand forgiving Bush for this as is he's a junior aide and not the CIC. Which leads me to believe that there was another reason it took a month to get those troops in there, the DoD doesn't make policy, the president does, and that wasn't some minute angle of strategy, that was activating the entire second phase - I don't know what the reason was for the delay, but I'd like a Rummy apologists with intimate knowledge describe it to me before I draw conclusions from an inference told from one perspective (namely PBS's decision that yes, Rumsfeld is indeed the anti Christ).

To Bush's credit at least he did name SOMEBODY in charge before military operations began(Armitage on FUBAR was funny) and I don't blame it for being Rummy now that I think about it. This is why - you leave Tenet in charge and now a general in theater has two bosses, Tenet AND the Sec Def because its not as if he's going to ignore the SoD just because the CIA has the lead in operations. For that reason alone Rummy was the right call in that instance.

More later, when you guys decide to post.

PS> I'm having a hell of a time figuring out a convenient flight plan. I can get a round trip from Vegas to Philly for $197 if I want to spend 13 hours flying and have a layover in Manilla. I think I'll splurge for the $400 ticket, get in in one shot and at a reasonable time, but then I don't know if I can do Philly on Tuesday because Ang put in for Wed as her first night off, so it may be late in the day Wednesday in Scranton unless I get her to finagle Tuesday off. If she can that should put me in Philly Tuesday at 3pm and I can hook up with James for a ride in. I'll let you guys know, I'll have it sorted by next Thursday.