The previously hyped comprehensive review in which we would radically transform the military will instead report that no major changes are necessary:
A comprehensive military strategy review once billed as Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld’s architecture for revamping the armed forces eliminates no major weapon systems and calls for only incremental change in other priorities, according to Pentagon officials, outside advisers and independent analysts.
Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld went over notes Wednesday before a news briefing on a comprehensive military strategy review.
The plan, which is due to be made public next week along with the Bush administration’s fiscal 2007 budget, does contain some significant shifts like calls for training thousands of additional special operations troops and for building futuristic weapons to defeat terror groups and potential new adversaries like China.But initial hopes by Defense Department civilians to use the yearlong reassessment, which takes place every four years, to force far-reaching changes in spending priorities have not materialized, in part, analysts said, because of resistance by the military services.
The age old saga continues- bold new ideas meet service fiefdoms, entrenched bureaucracies, and institutional inertia, and the outcome is the same every time. This is why I never really believed (and still don’t) that Bolton would be able to transform the UN– entrenched bureaucracies eat dynamic folks.
Mr Furious
Great! Because we all know the military is running like a Swiss watch right now, no problems at all, and plenty of money for everything…
Reason number 439 that Rumsfeld should be out on his ass.
Krista
Dynamic? That’s one word for people like Bolton and Rumsfeld. Not the word I would have used, but okay…
Ancient Purple
No to worry. Rumsfeld is doing a heck of a job. See, if he starts making any wholesale changes, then that would signal to our enemies that there is a problem in the military and that would only embolden them.
But we are in the last throes of the insurgency in Iraq, so, again, not to worry, because we can make changes after that.
Kav
It’s amusing how ‘heck of a job’ has now become a phrase to watch for. Since it is clearly a part of President Bush’ natural speech flow, I imagine it has been suggested he work hard to avoid using it. :-)
Barry
“…entrenched bureaucracies eat dynamic folks.”
I don’t think that that’s the situation with Rumsfield.
He wanted his high-tech transformation, regardless of the facts on the ground, and he’s proceeding with that, to a fair extent. Certainly the plan is closer to that than to the realities of Iraq. A plan that took the lessons of Iraq into account would put a lot more money into the Army and Marines; money which would flow into people, not contractors. The Navy and Air Force would be pointedly told that they’ve got a 20-40 year lead on the rest of the world, and that they’re being put on a slow-track back burner. Those generals and admirals who expressed a peep of
doubt, privately or publicly, would be sh*tcanned without delay or mercy.
Lines
I’m not sure if I’m the only one that found this slightly humorous and frightening at the same time:
Ominous? Simplifying a complex situation has never backfired on us before, right?
Jay C
Gee, what a surprise! Sec’y Rumsfeld orders a new “comprehensive strategy review” – which turns out to conclude that everything at the Pentagon is running A-OK and peachy-keen on Rummy’s watch. Shocker!
Vlad
Personally, I assumed that Bolton wouldn’t be able to “transform the UN” because he’s a petulant little doink who couldn’t persuade his way out of a paper bag.
The Disenfranchised Voter
Bolton can’t transform the UN because the guy is an asshole. That’s not the UN’s fault.