Transition: Shinseki’s return

Obama yesterday named retired Gen. Eric Shinseki as his choice to be Veterans Affairs secretary. The AP notes that his "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 general was marginalized and later retired from the Army. 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." The New York Daily News' DeFrank writes that Shinseki's “appointment as veterans affairs secretary demonstrates that Barack Obama knows big-time change can be created without spending a penny. By restoring to grace a retired four-star general whose career ... (link)