Retired officers blast Rumsfeld

Retired officers blast Rumsfeld: "Three recently retired military officers who served in Iraq blamed Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld on Monday for the morass there. They said he should resign, and urged senators to subpoena active generals to testify about their concerns.

'I believe that Secretary Rumsfeld and others in the administration did not tell the American people the truth for fear of losing support for the war in Iraq,' retired Army Maj. Gen. John Batiste said at a forum held by Senate Democrats.

Retired Army Maj. Gen. Paul Eaton assessed Rumsfeld as 'incompetent strategically, operationally and tactically.'

'Mr. Rumsfeld and his immediate team must be replaced or we will see two more years of extraordinarily bad decision making,' Eaton said.

Batiste, Eaton and retired Marine Col. Thomas Hammes suggested anger at the way the military had been treated.

Batiste, who commanded the Army's 1st Infantry Division in Iraq, said Rumsfeld at one point had threatened to fire the next person who mentioned the need for a postwar plan. Batiste also said Congress had failed to ask 'the tough questions.'"