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Rumsfield Letter signing flap


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Enough is enough! Everyone on this board knows where I am politically (Left center ha,ha!) and I am opposed to the White House view of how America should be, but I'm with Don on this one. While I can only guess how losing a loved one would feel, I cant for the life of me see why someone would be upset that the SecDef uses a machine to sign condolence letters to families of slain troops.

I would be more upset if he took time out of what has to be a busy day to handsign these letters. There are more important tasks to be performed by the person in charge of the defense of this country. As a vet I understand that performance of one's duty could mean death, every service man and woman knows this already, but this sounds too much like piling on to me and in this case is just isnt right.

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While I can only guess how losing a loved one would feel, I cant for the life of me see why someone would be upset that the SecDef uses a machine to sign condolence letters to families of slain troops.

It's payback for his comment about "going to war with the army you have."

The "army we have" is a result of a 25% reduction in forces during the 1990's (hint: a prior administration), and Rumsfeld's remark was taken as a slap at the Democrats, ergo, payback.

It's the DC way.

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Well when everyone was busy praising the success and expediency of the initial invasion, the issue of a "gutted military" never came out of the Reppy's mouths. So which is it, a strong army able to swiftly defeat the Iraqi's (thanks Dems!) or a gutted military that is to be blamed on the Dems when things go bad?

Military budget when Clinton assumed office was 312.1 billion. When he left it was 305.4 billion. More like a 2% to 3% cut. You can't blame the reduction of enlisted on Clinton, maybe people saw better possibilities than enlisting in the services or maybe the recruitment didn't receive as much attention as it should have.

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Gee Jamaotto even if Rumsfeld did sign the letters it would still be getting done by a cold heartless machine, what the diff?

I dont for a minute buy his statement as a slap against the Clinton Admin. Rumsfeld and his ilk look at our troops as cannon fodder for thier own political gain and his statement reflected that sentiment. However I still feel this signing thing is muchado about nothing and that this is piling on by some folks who could have made their dissent/disagreement felt in a more effective manner. Its called an election. We had one. Now live with the consequences and stop *****ing over stuff that is inconsequential.

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Gee Jamaotto even if Rumsfeld did sign the letters it would still be getting done by a cold heartless machine, what the diff?

Night and day, to put one's sig on the letter is harder than just stuffing a bunch of paper's into the "Sign a bunch of papers real fast" machine.

In all honesty, I think the President should have to sign them.

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Guest Remo Williams

Whether a machine or a man it changes nothing the loved one won't come back. The situation won't change. The issue is pointless IMO do they think that an actual person's sig is going to make it better or less painful. I feel for their loss, but please itÔÇÖs going to take time to heal if they ever do its not going to come with a signature.

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Originally posted by jamotto:

In all honesty, I think the President should have to sign them.

Please, just stop....

I have a nimber of military awards, and NOT one of them is ACTUALLY signed by the person that gave it to me.

All awards, letters, posthumously or whatever is signed by machine.

These things are done by subordinates and OK'd by staff.

The person in charge is NEVER expected, and should NEVER be expected to sign such documents themselves.

They have many other things to do with their time, LIKE WINNING A FRICKING WAR!!!

SO this whole thing is a crock of crap as far as I am concerned.

People are pissed at Rummy and want him out, and will hit him with whatever they can to get him out.

If this is the best they got, they have a HUGE problem....

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Military budget when Clinton assumed office was 312.1 billion. When he left it was 305.4 billion. More like a 2% to 3% cut. You can't blame the reduction of enlisted on Clinton

From The Facts About Military Readiness:

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quote:

Steve: Something happened during the 90's that induced the former administration to believe that military budgets could be reduced. Why do you refer to the administration handling of military affairs during this period without replacing this in its historical context ? Glasnost & Perestroika never took place ? Had the collapse of the Soviet Union and the WAPA pact nothing to do with it ?

What happened is that they were chasing after the "peace dividend," thinking that the world was finally safe after the collapse of the Soviet Union.

I guess they were a bit premature in their thinking?

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