From the RANT:

When asked about his feelings regarding the draft proposal by Charles B. Rangel (D-N.Y.) last Wednesday, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld recalled the experience of the draft during Vietnam.

Rumsfeld said troops from Vietnam War conscription added "no value, no advantage, really, to the United States armed services . . . because the churning that took place, it took an enormous amount of effort in terms of training, and then they were gone."

I wonder how Vietnam era draftees feel about this. Thank god bill Clinton didn't say this, it would have knocked Bush's war plans right off the front page. Bush was drafted wasn't he? And he was fairly useless. Everyone who has a family member who was drafted and also has their name on a black wall in washington should call for rummys crucifixion."

We wanted to read Rumsfeld's remarks in context.

From the UPI on 1/10/02:

He spoke of the fact that many of those who were drafted were trained, served for a short time and then left the service. Rumsfeld first referred to the many exemptions issued to certain men in the draft and then said, "what was left was sucked into the intake, trained for a period of months, and then went out, adding no value, no advantage, really, to the United States armed services over any sustained period of time, because the churning that took place, it took enormous amount of effort in terms of training, and then they were gone."

Reaction from veterans was swift:

Bobby Muller, president of Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation said in a statement issued Friday. "As Vietnam veterans who served with conscripted soldiers, we find Secretary Rumsfeld's egregious slur a grave insult to the memory, sacrifice and valor of those who lost their lives, and, further, dismissive of the hundreds and thousands of lives, both in the U.S. and in Vietnam, who were devastatingly shattered by the Vietnam War."

And from a Letter to the Editor of the Washington Post by reader Bob Woodruff:

Thousands of Vietnam-era draftees came home for burial in wooden boxes, and many more still suffer the effects of napalm exposure or were otherwise disabled in combat. It is comforting, I'm sure, to their families that they were of "no value, no advantage, really."

Ok, we read and we decided. We agree with the Rant and the Vets, that was a dumb and crummy thing for Rumsfeld to say.