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December 3, 2009

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Letter: Rumsfeld deserves no plaudits for failures

Monday, Dec. 25, 2006 | 7:22 a.m.

In response to Lee Gliddon's Dec. 20 letter, which was headlined, "Let's give thanks to Donald Rumsfeld":

I am not a liberal nor shortsighted, and I served for more than 20 years in the United States Marine Corps. Donald Rumsfeld may have had a grand vision of reshaping the armed forces and an agenda to get it done, but after 2001 he could not get past his own poor decision-making and the unilateral diplomatic policies of the Bush administration.

Mr. Rumsfeld came into office with a robust and proud military. He has resigned from office with a fractured and dispirited military. That is not effective leadership, nor is it an accomplishment.

Memories of Robert McNamara during Vietnam and Donald Rumsfeld during Iraq are the same for me.

We certainly can't lay all the blame upon these complex men, but they were the final authorities on national military strategy and both failed.

Moving forward with unity may only come when we honestly assess our previous mistakes, something this administration is slow to do.

Peter McMurran, Las Vegas

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