VIDEO: Myers Claims Shinseki Was Merely ‘Pulling A Number Out’ Of Thin Air

This morning, former Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Richard Myers attempted to defend Rumsfeld from recent criticisms from U.S. generals that we needed more post-war troops in Iraq.

Myers was forced to defend Rumsfeld’s treatment of Gen. Eric Shinseki, who called for “several hundred thousand soldiers” before the war. While acknowledging that Shinseki was “improperly criticized” for speaking out, Myers disingenuously downplayed Shinseki’s courageous act to speak out honestly at the time. (Watch it.)

MYERS: It is significant that in all our discussions leading up to the war on Iraq that…General Shinseki never spoke up again about the number of troops it would take.
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I’m just saying that General Shinseki was forced to make that comment under pressure, pulled a number out.
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Let me go back to General Shinseki for a moment. People have misplayed his comments over and over, and it’s just absolutely incorrect in context. He was forced to make — say a number. He said a number. He was inappropriately criticized I believe for speaking out.

Myers fails to accept that Shinseki’s judgment approximated the view of many military commanders at the time. As Ret. Maj. Gen. John Batiste, who led the 1st Infantry Division in Iraq, said this morning on Good Morning America:

You know, there’s a process within the Department of Defense, a very deliberate planning process which goes into each contingency and deliberately analytically develops war plans. It continues year to year. Our senior leadership chose to radically modify 12 years of very deliberate planning with respect to Iraq. Previous planning identified the requirement for three times the level of forces that we committed into Iraq to take down a regime and then build the peace.

The Bush administration’s treatment of Shinseki had the effect of silencing others in the chain of command who agreed with him. Click here to see key facts in the smearing of Shinseki.