BushCo Suffers Some Political Setbacks RE: Iraq

Another retired general wants Rumsfeld to resign. This time, however, it is a general who actually commanded troops in Iraq:

Retired two-star Maj. Gen. John Batiste, who commanded the Big Red One - the Army's 1st Infantry Division - in Iraq until November, said Rumsfeld must go for ignoring and intimidating career officers.

"You know, it speaks volumes that guys like me are speaking out from retirement about the leadership climate in the Department of Defense," Batiste told CNN.

"I believe we need a fresh start in the Pentagon. We need a leader who understands teamwork, a leader who knows how to build teams, a leader that does it without intimidation," said Batiste, a West Point graduate who also served in the 1991 Persian Gulf War and is now president of Klein Steel Service in upstate Rochester.

"When decisions are made without taking into account sound military recommendations, sound military decision-making, sound planning - then we're bound to make mistakes," he said.

Batiste will, of course, get a lot of crap from BushCo with regard to the fact that he probably didn't complain when he was in active service. Well, all General Shinseki did was suggest that it might take several hundred thousand troops to secure Iraq (i.e., he made a sound military recommendation which turned out to be dead on) and he was fired, so I really can blame Batiste for not speaking out when he was in command of the 1st Infantry.

Meanwhile, it looks like Italy will be pulling out of Iraq (sort of):

Romano Prodi, the leader of the Union coalition, which won the latest elections in Italy, said on Wednesday that he will withdraw the Italian troops from Iraq when he takes office, claiming there was no justification for the US-led invasion of the Arab country.

In an interview with the French Le Monde daily, the Italian Prime Minister Elect said that he will fulfill his election promise of withdrawing his country´s troops from Iraq.

Following the pullout, an Italian civil contingent will be sent to Iraq to help in the reconstruction of the infrastructure and institutions, asserted Prodi.