RUMSFELD….David Ignatius tells a story about Donald Rumsfeld’s penchant for micromanaging:
To the end, even when Rumsfeld must have known that his time in the job was short, he wouldn’t give up that option to meddle with his field commanders. When Marine Gen. James Jones, the retiring NATO commander, went to see Rumsfeld a few weeks ago to talk about becoming commander of Centcom, he asked whether the defense secretary intended to continue his direct line of communication with the theater commander, Gen. George Casey, sometimes bypassing Centcom. When Rumsfeld wouldn’t rule out such contacts, Jones began to doubt the Centcom job would work. And when Rumsfeld said he didn’t foresee significant changes in Iraq strategy, Jones withdrew his name from consideration.
“Rumsfeld said he didn’t foresee significant changes in Iraq strategy.” That sort of says it all.
