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UPDATE: REPORTS SAY GEN. ERIC SHINSEKI TO
BE NEW VA
SECRETARY -- Former Army Chief of Staff was
forced out by
civilian bosses for his views on needed troop
strength in Iraq.
|
Gen. Eric Shinseki (ret.) |
Everybody got it wrong.
Numerous reports now say that Gen. Eric Shinseki
(ret.) will be President-elect Obama's choice for VA Secretary.
Shinseki's name did not appear on any list of
potential nominees for the VA's top post.
For Shinseki's bio, click here...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_Shinseki
We have two stories... First is an initial report
and second has more details with reaction.
First story here...
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/
news?pid=20601087&sid=aAJN0eI6vj9Y&refer=home
Story below:
Your comments accepted at bottom of
page.
-------------------------
Obama to Name Eric Shinseki as Secretary of
Veterans Affairs
By Julianna Goldman
(Bloomberg) -- President-elect Barack Obama will name former Army Chief of
Staff Eric Shinseki to head the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs
tomorrow at a news conference in Chicago, according to two Democratic
aides who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Shortly before the 2003 U.S. invasion to oust dictator Iraqi Saddam
Hussein, Shinseki told Congress it would take several hundred thousand
troops to stabilize postwar Iraq.
 Critics
of the Bush administration say Shinseki was punished for that statement --
an assessment roundly rejected at the time by then-Secretary of Defense
Donald Rumsfeld and his then-deputy Paul Wolfowitz -- by having his tenure
as chief of staff cut short.
Rumsfeld named Shinseki’s replacement more than a year before the general
was set to leave the Pentagon. Rumsfeld himself later resigned his post,
his reputation damaged by the failure of U.S. planning for the invasion’s
aftermath and the subsequent violence.
Retired General Shinseki will join Obama at a press conference scheduled
to begin at 1 p.m. Chicago time to commemorate the 67th anniversary of the
attack on Pearl Harbor.
Cabinet secretaries are subject to Senate confirmation once they are
formally nominated after Obama takes office on Jan. 20.
-------------------------
Second story here...
http://www.google.com/hos
tednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jf1fwNqUroMCL
73o7QaYXiyzC_EwD94TJU7O2
Story below:
-------------------------
Rumsfeld nemesis Shinseki to be named VA
secretary
By HOPE YEN
WASHINGTON (AP) — President-elect Barack Obama has chosen retired Gen.
Eric K. Shinseki to be the next Veterans Affairs secretary, turning to a
former Army chief of staff once vilified by the Bush administration for
questioning its Iraq war strategy.
Obama will announce the selection of Shinseki, the first Army four-star
general of Japanese-American ancestry, at a news conference Sunday in
Chicago. He will be the first Asian-American to hold the post of Veterans
Affairs secretary, adding to the growing diversity of Obama's Cabinet.
"I think that General Shinseki is exactly the right person who is going to
be able to make sure that we honor our troops when they come home," Obama
said in an interview with NBC's "Meet the Press" to be broadcast Sunday.
NBC released a transcript of the interview after The Associated Press
reported that Shinseki was Obama's pick.
Shinseki's tenure as Army chief of staff from 1999 to 2003 was marked by
constant tensions with Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, which boiled
over in 2003 when Shinseki testified to Congress that it might take
several hundred thousand U.S. troops to control Iraq after the invasion.
Rumsfeld and his deputy, Paul Wolfowitz, belittled the estimate as "wildly
off the mark" and the army general was ousted within months. But
Shinseki's words proved prophetic after President George W. Bush in early
2007 announced a "surge" of additional troops to Iraq after miscalculating
the numbers needed to stem sectarian violence.
Obama said he chose Shinseki for the VA post because he "was right" in
predicting that the U.S. will need more troops in Iraq than Rumsfeld
believed at the time.
"When I reflect on the sacrifices that have been made by our veterans and
I think about how so many veterans around the country are struggling even
more than those who have not served — higher unemployment rates, higher
homeless rates, higher substance abuse rates, medical care that is
inadequate — it breaks my heart," Obama told NBC.
Shinseki, 66, is slated to take the helm of the government's second
largest agency, which was roundly criticized during the Bush
administration for underestimating the amount of funding needed to treat
thousands of injured veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan.
Thousands of veterans currently endure six-month waits for disability
benefits, despite promises by current VA Secretary James Peake and his
predecessor, Jim Nicholson, to reduce delays. The department also is
scrambling to upgrade government technology systems before new legislation
providing for millions of dollars in new GI benefits takes effect next
August.
Sen. Daniel Akaka, D-Hawaii, and chairman of the Senate Veterans Affairs
Committee, praised Shinseki as a "great choice" who will make an excellent
VA secretary.
"I have great respect for General Shinseki's judgment and abilities,"
Akaka said in a statement. "I am confident that he will use his wisdom and
experience to ensure that our veterans receive the respect and care they
have earned in defense of our nation. President-elect Obama is selecting a
team that reflects our nation's greatest strength, its diversity, and I
applaud him."
Veterans groups also cheered the decision.
"General Shinseki has a record of courage and honesty, and is a bold
choice to lead the VA into the future," said Paul Rieckhoff, executive
director of the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America. "He is a man
that has always put patriotism ahead of politics, and is held in high
regard by veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan."
Obama's choice of Shinseki, who grew up in Hawaii, is the latest
indication that the president-elect is making good on his pledge to have a
diverse Cabinet.
In Obama's eight Cabinet announcements so far, white men are the minority
with two nominations — Timothy Geithner at Treasury and Robert Gates at
Defense. Three are women — Janet Napolitano at Homeland Security, Susan
Rice as United Nations ambassador and Hillary Rodham Clinton at State.
Eric Holder at the Justice Department is African American, while Bill
Richardson at Commerce is Latino.
Shinseki is a recipient of two Purple Hearts for life-threatening injuries
in Vietnam.
Upon leaving his post in June 2003, Shinseki in his farewell speech
sternly warned against arrogance in leadership.
"You must love those you lead before you can be an effective leader," he
said. "You can certainly command without that sense of commitment, but you
cannot lead without it. And without leadership, command is a hollow
experience, a vacuum often filled with mistrust and arrogance."
Shinseki also left with the warning: "Beware a 12-division strategy for a
10-division army."
-------------------------
posted by Larry Scott
Founder and Editor
VA Watchdog dot Org
-------------------------
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