Life's Little Ironies!
"Freedom Warrior" Rumsfeld is a distrustful micromanager, while "Neo-Stalinist" Saddam trusts his subordinates with decision-making authority
by Tamara Baker

March 31, 2003 -- ST. PAUL (apj.us) -- Now isn't this ironic!

Turns out that the actual warriors over at the Pentagon are heartily sick of Donald "PNAC" Rumsfeld's micromismanagement of the invasion of Iraq -- so sick of it, in fact, that they're talking freely to the New Yorker about it, according to Agence France-Presse.

Here's some choice passages therefrom:

Senior US war planners have accused Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld of "micromanaging" operations in Iraq and ignoring recommendations from military officials. "He thought he knew better. He was the decision-maker at every turn," one senior planner told the New Yorker magazine, in its edition to be released Monday. Planners with the Joint Chiefs of Staff had recommended deploying four or more Army divisions, which Rumsfeld rejected, the report said.

...

After Turkey's parliament shocked war planners by refusing to allow tens of thousands of US troops to enter Iraq from Turkish soil, General Tommy Franks, head of US Central Command, had argued for delaying the war until those forces could enter from another route, it said. But a former intelligence official said Rumsfeld "overruled him." "This is tragic. American lives are being lost," one senior planner told the magazine.

Now, as his appearances on the Sunday talks this weekend hinted, Rumsfeld seems to be planning to sandbag Franks and make him take the fall for Rumsfeld's own disastrous Iraq tar baby.

But the officers who talked to the New Yorker know better: this is a 100% Rumsfeld operation, and they're going to do their best to keep him from sending General Franks to the chopping block for the crime of failing to do the impossible.

Meanwhile, contrast this rather Stalinesque "how many divisions does the Pope have?" behavior of Rumsfeld's with the much looser, more trusting operational style of the Butcher of Baghdad himself!

Saddam Hussein set up a system giving his most trusted lieutenants and local tribal leaders the power to mount a guerrilla campaign or other military measures without waiting for his orders.

Saddam reorganized his chain of command before the war so that he need not give every order and thus make himself vulnerable to U.S. electronic detection. U.S. officials, however, see the absence of Saddam's strong hand on the battlefield as a sign that he may be dead or wounded.

Tamara notes: Or it could be a sign that he's smarter than you guys. Weren't you all saying that resistance would crumble once Saddam was dead?

But I digress.

To continue:

Five days before the war began, the Iraqi government announced Saddam had divided the country into four military regions under the command of his son Qusai, head of the elite Republican Guards, and three of his most trusted lieutenants.

Each of them was given sweeping powers to use all the resources of the Iraqi military and state for the defense of his region. That meant commanders in Najaf, Basra, Mosul and other areas did not have to wait for instructions from Saddam before taking action.

Saddam could remain hidden from U.S. electronic surveillance while being assured that his strategy for defending Iraq would be implemented by his son and aides -- even if coalition forces destroy his communications.

Hmmm. Sounds like the actions of a man with near-complete confidence in his subordinates. As opposed to, say, a "micromanager."

But there's more:

Saddam spent the months before the invasion buttering up Iraq's tribes and clans, giving them cars and other presents. He's also used television to talk to tribal leaders, both to praise them and to warn them about how tough the fight against invasion would be against the US' planes and rockets.

The chiefs, pleased with both the gifts and the straight talk, are returning his trust and gestures. Dozens of tribal chiefs came to Baghdad in the past week to assure Saddam of their loyalty, as well as to receive an update on their fighting orders. These chieftains command the loyalty of tens of thousands of men -- hardened desert fighters, who know their terrain blindfolded. And Saddam trusts them implicitly.

Ironic as hell, isn't it?