Hallelujah! I think everyone here will be satisfied that the AP is reporting that 4 star General Eric Shinseki will be named Secretary of Veterans Affairs in the Obama administration.
For those who need a reminder, General Shinseki was the guy who said we shouldn't go to war in Iraq without enough troops and was fired because of those views.
Via TPM:
Democratic officials say President-elect Barack Obama has selected retired Gen. Eric K. Shinseki to be the next Veterans Affairs secretary.
The officials said Obama will announce his selection Sunday. They spoke on condition of anonymity to avoid pre-empting the official announcement.
Shinseki is the former Army chief of staff who upset his civilian bosses in 2003 when he testified to Congress that it might take several hundred thousand U.S. troops to control Iraq after the U.S. invasion. He was forced out of his job within months for being "wildly off the mark." But his words proved prophetic after President George W. Bush in early 2007 announced a "surge" of additional troops to Iraq after miscalculating.
Marc Ambinder has a little more: here.
I was waiting to see who would get this position. I know many Kossacks were hoping for Tammy Duckworth but to me this seems like another level headed choice by Obama.
UPDATE: Here's Obama discussing the choice:
UPDATE 2: I thought it would be good to include some biography so people can learn more about him. He seems like an incredibly smart guy:
Shinseki was born in Lihue, Kauai in the then-Territory of Hawaii, to a Japanese American family. He graduated from the United States Military Academy in 1965 with a Bachelor of Science degree and a commission as a second lieutenant. He earned a Master of Arts degree in English Literature from Duke University. He was also educated at the Armor Officer Advanced Course, the United States Army Command and General Staff College, and the National War College.
Shinseki served in a variety of command and staff assignments in the Continental United States and overseas, including two combat tours with the 9th and 25th Infantry Divisions in the Republic of Vietnam as an artillery forward observer and as commander of Troop A, 3rd Squadron, 5th Cavalry Regiment. During one of those tours, he stepped on a land mine, which blew off the front of one of his feet.