We need Rummy

As the critics hit Secretary Donald Rumsfeld from every direction, I can’t let a good man go down without a fight. Rumsfeld has been a master of the Bush doctrine, stopping terrorists around the world before they terrorize us here.

The pundits blame Rummy for problems in Iraq. They say we should have had more troops on the ground. It wasn’t too long ago in another war — Vietnam — that we put more troops on the ground and took away the spirit of the people of that country to stand up for themselves. If Rumsfeld and Bush endorsed more troops on the ground, they would be recreating a failed policy and blamed for the failure. The war must be won with the smallest contingent of troops necessary in order to let the people of Iraq fight for their own freedom. If they don’t want that freedom in the end, we need to move on. We can’t however, let terrorists back into the country in large enough numbers to control it. That will require a force of some thousands for many years just as they are in the Balkans.

This world-wide war will last for a long time, no doubt about it. There will be many more causalities. It is, however, better to confront our enemies now than to wait until they are more powerful. They must be countered in every corner of the world and we must have the resolve to do just that.