Bush, Iraq, etc.

Retired Army Colonel David Hackworth states what has long been obvious, that President Bush needs to hold those among his subordinates who are responsible for the screwups in the planning and execution of the Iraq war accountable. Hackworth goes on to take a swipe at Rudy Giuliani for his comments blaming the troops in the field for the failure to secure the ammo dumps during the early days of the invasion, saying the "ambitious former mayor who dodged the Vietnam draft should be rapped on the head with the butt of an M-16 rifle for putting the politically expedient bad mouth on our brave soldiers".

It's interesting that Hackworth begins his article by stating "now that the election’s over, President Bush needs to deep-six his candidate hat and get serious as commander-in-chief." The implication is that it was acceptable for Bush to put his political interests ahead of the troops' welfare until the election was over. There might be quite a bit fewer dead and maimed American soldiers if Bush had gotten serious about being commander-in-chief at the beginning of the war. Perhaps had he started holding his underlings accountable for their mistakes (mistakes which have cost our troops and Iraqi civilians their lives) we would have developed some kind of coherent strategy in Iraq (instead of the currently in place "whack-a-mole" strategy) long before now.