Changes

Nevertheless, Shinseki and others have made it clear that the decision to announce his successor more than a year before his planned retirement undercut his authority and reflected sharp disagreements between his and Donald Rumsfeld's vision of the Defense Department - disagreements which were not limited to specific troop projections for the Iraq War. As the ''Washington Post'' reported in October 2002, "The relationship, never close, hit the rocks when Rumsfeld let it be known in April that he had decided to name Gen. John Keane, the Army's vice chief of staff, as its next chief, 15 months before its current chief, Gen. Eric Shinseki, was scheduled to retire. This immediately made Shinseki a lame duck and undercut his ambitious 'transformation' agenda, which he had set forth in late 1999." [http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A32170-2002Oct15] And Army secretary Thomas White ''was'' fired in April 2003 after expressing his agreement with Shinseki's assessment of needed troop levels in Iraq. According to ''USA Today'', "Rumsfeld was furious with White when the Army secretary agreed with Shinseki." [http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2003-06-02-white-usat_x.htm] In an interview after leaving the Pentagon, White said that senior Defense officials "are unwilling to come to grips" with the scale of the postwar U.S. obligation in Iraq, adding, "It's almost a question of people not wanting to 'fess up to the notion that we will be there a long time and they might have to set up a rotation and sustain it for the long term." [http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2003-04-25-white-resigns_x.htm]

*[[Operation Iraqi Freedom]]

*[[Operation Iraqi Freedom: Military and Political Dissent]]

*[[U.S. Central Command]]

*Bill Gertz and Rowan Scarborough, "Inside The Ring," ''Washington Times'', April 19, 2002.

*Vernon Loeb and Thomas E. Ricks, "[http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A32170-2002Oct15 Rumsfeld's Style, Goals Strain Ties In Pentagon]," ''Washington Post, October 16, 2002, p. A1.

*"[http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2003-04-25-white-resigns_x.htm Rumsfeld fired Army secretary Thomas White]," Associated Press, April 26, 2003.

*"[http://www.factcheck.org/article.aspx@docid=275.html Distortions Galore at Second Presidential Debate]," FactCheck.org, October 9, 2004.

*Dan Kennedy, "[http://www.bostonphoenix.com/medialog/2004/10/kerrys-missed-opportunities.asp Kerry's Missed Opportunities]," ''Boston Phoenix'', October 9, 2004.