1944: Battle of the Bulge; 2004: Battle of the Bilge

My friends at POWERLINE posted a link to a GREAT column by Paul Greenberg - a column written on this, the 60th anniversary of the Battle of the Bulge.

Greenberg wrote:

"Instead of sheltering behind the Siegfried Line, the "retreating" Germans were advancing. Through an only lightly defended 50-mile stretch of the Ardennes. Allied intelligence had collected reports of a transfer of German troops from the Eastern to the Western front in the fall of 1944, and there was ample evidence that they were being reassembled in the Ardennes, but word never filtered up to headquarters. No one had connected the dots. (Sound familiar?) [...] In the heat of battle, confusion reigned. Disguised as American MPs, English-speaking, American-accented Germans were sending relief convoys down the wrong roads, or into murderous ambushes. Just liberated French cities were exposed again, and Paris was jittery. The British press demanded that Eisenhower turn command of the land forces over to Montgomery - or anyone else competent. [...] In the heat of battle, confusion reigned. Disguised as American MPs, English-speaking, American-accented Germans were sending relief convoys down the wrong roads, or into murderous ambushes. Just liberated French cities were exposed again, and Paris was jittery. The British press demanded that Eisenhower turn command of the land forces over to Montgomery - or anyone else competent."

But that was then. Then, only the infamous yellow press of Fleet Street carped a negative line. NO ONE IN GOVERNMENT called for the Secretary of War to resign - (he was Henry L. Stimson, a secretary of huge import, and like Rumsfeld an enourmously talented and committed man on his 2nd tour of duty as leader of the department).

McCain and Kristol should be ashamed of themselves for caving into the negativists and defeatists who always seem to seek to scapegoat someone whenever there's a setback in this war. Well: setbacks are a part of war; the enemy is flexible, cunning and committed and they're bound to do things which will upset our plans. So, we must be cunning, too. Not defeatist.

I'd rather the McCains and the Kristols of the world - on the Right and on the Left - all kept their mouths shut, instead of carping each time we hit an inevitable bump in the road to victory - a victory that can only be lost if we lose our resolve; a resolve that can only be undemined by their short-sighted carping.

So... HEY YO... MCCAIN & HAGEL & KRISTOL (and now LOTT): ENOUGH ALREADY! Your seemingly unending calls for Rumsfeld to resign are nothing more than BILGE!"*

Bush and Rumsfeld have (for all intents and purposes) answered your call by saying what General McAuliffe said to the NAZIS at the Battle of the Bulge - "NUTS!"

*[Bilge as defined by the Navy: "Spaces at the very bottom of a vessel in which water leaks are allowed to collect for evacuation by the ship's pumps. Thus, the expression, 'That's bilge!', meaning 'Nonsense'. "]

FOR MORE ON THE "LET'S GET RUMSFELD!" CROWD (FROM THE EDITORS OF NATIONAL REVIEW), JUST CLICK HERE.