@3Case,
Even his detractors gave Little Mac credit for turning a collection of backwoods civilian boys into the Army that Grant lead into the Wilderness. It is to his credit that when he stood against Lincoln as the Democratic candidate in 1864 McClellan did not repudiate Lincon’s war. By all accounts the troops adored him and then voted for the team and the strategy that promised the bloodiest if surest road to victory.

While I am sure that much good work happened on General Casey’s watch, the Ratlines Campaign that we examined here comes to mind, History may not judge him as favorably. He has shown neither the humanity and principles of McClellan nor the determination and strategic vision of Grant and Petreaus.

That does not mean that I disagree with those old school officers who criticized Rumsfeld’s plan from the beginning for being undermanned. But given the Army we had in 2003 and given the Turkish blockage of the 4th Infantry Division during the initial assault the situation in 2005 was going to be a given. How to press forward from there was the challenge.

Much of what Bush and Rumsfeld did will be praised in the future. Maybe the judgment that traditional heavy forces had to be cut to fund transformation will be found justified. Right now it looks like we need twice the armed forces we have to face very real old fashioned threats.