In the midst of the Rumskull debate, someone makes a point I keep repeating.

Yesterday's New York Times had a very interesting article entitled "Young Officers Join the Debate Over Rumsfeld." It is definitely worth reading. I will be writing more about the article, but for now I will discuss one passage which really caught my attention:

The debates are fueled by the desire to mete out blame for the situation in Iraq, a drawn-out war that has taken many military lives and has no clear end in sight. A midgrade officer who has served two tours in Iraq said a number of his cohorts were angered last month when Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said that "tactical errors, a thousand of them, I am sure," had been made in Iraq.

"We have not lost a single tactical engagement on the ground in Iraq," the officer said, noting that the definition of tactical missions is specific movements against an enemy target. "The mistakes have all been at the strategic and political levels."

(emphasis added). This is what I have been saying since August 2004. Moreover, I have explained in detail that under the official campaign planning doctrine for the Iraq war 1) the ultimate political objectives are the same as the strategic objectives, 2) the political/strategic objectives take precedence over the military objectives, 3) the military objectives and plans must be designed to meet the political/strategic objectives, and 4) the persons responsible for establishing the political/strategic objectives are the President and the Secretary of Defense. Since August 6, 2004, I have been saying that the persons responsible for the wonder that is the Iraq war are Bush and Rumskull. And now there is at least one military officer who has provided some support for my claim.