NYT: Pentagon Memo Aims to Counter Rumsfeld Critics

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/16/washington/16rumsfeld.html

Pentagon Memo Aims to Counter Rumsfeld Critics

WASHINGTON, April 15 — The Defense Department has issued a memorandum to former military commanders and analysts that offers a direct challenge to the criticisms made by retired generals about Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld.

The one-page memorandum was sent by e-mail on Friday to the group, which includes several retired generals who appear regularly on television, and came as the Bush administration stepped up its own defense of Mr. Rumsfeld. On the political front, Republican strategists voiced rising anxiety on Saturday that without a major change in the course of the Iraq war Republican candidates would suffer in the November elections.

The memorandum begins by stating "U.S. senior military leaders are involved to an unprecedented degree in every decision-making process in the Department of Defense." It says Mr. Rumsfeld has held 139 meetings with the Joint Chiefs of Staff since the beginning of 2005, and 208 meetings with the senior field commanders.

And, seeking to put the criticism of the relatively small number of retired generals into context, the e-mail message notes that there are more than 8,000 active duty and retired general officers alive today.