The appointment of Gen Shinseki to be VA Secretary that is.
I have no doubt that he will do a good job as VA Secretary, but I’m not reading into it the same kind of political vindictiveness that most of the media has. There are several reasons for this.
1) Shinseki was right about the number of troops required for Iraq. However the famous interview with Congress, for which he is credited with incredible foresight? is not so clear cut. He was right about needing several hundred thousand troops for Iraq-but as I was watching the actual tape, I can’t help but walk away with the conclusion that he thought he was saying something that was self evident. I’m not so sure that had he known Rumsfeld was going to throw him under the bus-whether he would have said it or not. Its not as clear cut as the media makes it out to be.
2) Shinseki was not “fired”-which is the popular description of his leaving. He served a full term as Army Chief of Staff and it is very rare for a service chief to serve longer than 4 years. (Vern Clark-please make a note of this). What was unusual was the naming of a successor 14 months out-and the utterly rude and unprofessional gesture on the part of Rumsfeld by not attending his retirement ceremony. This was an intentional slight and a foremost sign of disrespect directed toward Shinseki by the civilian leadership. But then again this was Rumsfeld-class was never exactly in his bag of tricks.
3) Shinseki’s tenure as Chief of Staff had some very mixed results. He did successfully stave off some incredibly short sighted cuts by Rummy, Wolfwitz, and the other sycophants. At the same time he led the Army down a rat hole with the Crusader program.
Then there is the whole deal with those damn berets. Ask a Ranger what they think about that-be prepared for some profanity.
Furthermore, if Obama really wanted to send a big “fuck you” to Bush and his former cronies in the Pentagon-he would have made Shinseki Army Secretary or put him in the DOD/ National Security establishment. VA Secretary is mere window dressing. The budget for the VA will not increase as much as it should-and if certain boneheads remain at DOD, they will fight increases for veterans benefits at every opportunity.
So, lets reward the man for being willing to serve-but one should not read more into it than is really there.