I think we've learned

That Rumsfeld wants his own men to be promoted high in the military.

I just didn't think those officers were to be "kept men", because what a fucking bit of fluffing this is:

MIAMI (AFP) - The top US general defended the leadership of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, saying it is inspired by God.

"He leads in a way that the good Lord tells him is best for our country," said Marine General Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Rumsfeld is "a man whose patriotism focus, energy, drive, is exceeded by no one else I know ... quite simply, he works harder than anybody else in our building," Pace said at a ceremony at the Southern Command (Southcom) in Miami.

Ugh!

But, according to Woodward, Rumsfeld made sure that the two men who he has chosen to be chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff - Air Force Gen. Richard Myers and Marine Corps Gen. Peter Pace - were people who would not directly challenge him.

Woodward writes that just before Pace was named chairman he was visited by an old friend, Marine Corps Gen. Jim Jones, the NATO commander. Jones expressed chagrin that Pace would even want to be chairman. "You're going to face a debacle and be part of the debacle in Iraq," he said. U.S. prestige was at a 50- or 75-year low in the world. He said he was so worried about Iraq and the way Rumsfeld ran things that he wondered if he himself should not resign in protest.

And, he told his friend, according to Woodward: "You should not be the parrot on the secretary's shoulder."

To be fair to Pace, he doesn't appear to be a parrot on Rummy's shoulder. Rather, he seems attached, well, let's be diplomatic out of respect to Pace's service...he seems attached at the hip.

Mr. Pace has obviously not read this...