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November 10, 2009

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Letter: Army chief deserved better

Monday, Oct. 10, 2005 | 8:59 a.m.

When the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Richard Myers, recently retired, in attendance were a host of dignitaries, including President Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. Compare Myers' retirement ceremony with that of former Army Chief of Staff Gen. Eric Shinseki, who had warned the White House in 2003 that several hundred thousand U.S. troops would be needed in Iraq after the initial fighting.

Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld conveniently absented themselves from Shinseki's retirement with various excuses. They callously humiliated an Army chief of staff with more than 30 years of service who had the courage to say what he believed. As it turned out, of course, his words were prophetic.

I bet the Bush administration now wishes it had listened and taken his advice. But unfortunately, back then, Rumsfeld, the guy who dreamed up "shock and awe" and received approval for it from Bush, thought he knew it all.

Lesley W. Benafield Henderson

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