Man on the run: Rummy becomes “art of a sort” and the object of military scorn…

Reuters reports, “A play ["Stuff Happens"] that skewers Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld as arrogant and war-mad has opened to a largely favorable welcome in New York this week, even as former generals turn against him in Washington.” What arrogant? Did they say, “war-mad”? “Former generals turn against,” our Rummy?

Ah, yes, former US generals have ambushed Rummy. The group reads like a "Who's Who" of top military brass.

Maj-Gen Batiste, commander of 1st Infantry Division in Iraq, is “disillusioned with the way the war was being conducted that he turned down a promotion that would have made him the second most senior US serviceman in Iraq.” Read: Batiste: Generals’ call for SecDef’s ouster ‘coincidental’

Maj-Gen Swannack, commander of the elite 82nd Airborne Division in Iraq, says Rummy “tried to ‘micromanage’ the war, with disastrous consequences. ‘We need a new secretary of defence, because Donald Rumsfeld carries far too much baggage with him.’" Read: Swannack opposes Rumsfeld

Lieutenant-General Greg Newbold, a former director of operations for the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the “invasion of Iraq ‘was done with a casualness and swagger that are the special province of those who have never had to execute these missions - or bury the results….The cost of flawed leadership continues to be paid in blood’". Read: Why Iraq was a mistake, by Lieut. General Greg Newbold (Ret.)

Maj-Gen John Riggs said, "They only need the military advice when it satisfies their agenda." Read: Gen. Riggs Joins in Calling for Rumsfeld to Quit

And Maj-Gen Paul Eaton described Rummy as "incompetent - strategically, operationally and tactically". Read: A chorus of dissent against the defense secretary