WP: Breaking Ranks

[MountainLaurel]

A very long article, but an important one, about the personal effects of the split within the military establishment over Iraq:



snip

Since 1998, Wilkerson has devoted himself to helping at-risk children at Macfarland in the name of Colin Powell, whom he refers to as "my boss" and "the general." Wilkerson works tirelessly to keep them in the club and to secure scholarships for them at private high schools.

snip

The split came as both men left the administration -- Powell as secretary of state, Wilkerson as his chief of staff -- after working side by side for 16 years. Wilkerson, a once-loyal Republican with 31 years of Army service, has emerged in recent months as a merciless critic of President Bush and his top people, accusing them of carrying out a reckless foreign policy and imperiling the future of the U.S. military.

"My wife would probably shoot me if I headed to the ballot box with a Republican vote again," he says. "This is not a Republican administration, not in my view. This is a radical administration."

Wilkerson calls Bush an unsophisticated leader who has been easily swayed by "messianic" neoconservatives and power-hungry, secretive schemers in the administration. In a landmark speech in October, Wilkerson said: "What I saw was a cabal between the vice president of the United States, Richard Cheney, and the secretary of defense, Donald Rumsfeld, on critical issues that made decisions that the bureaucracy did not know were being made."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/01/18/AR2006011802607.html

[RedEarth]

1. outstanding

[MountainLaurel]

3. It was good to read

That people in the Administration were speaking out against this madness before it happened and knew the WMD was bullshit, but have since been drummed out of the government and the military (look at what happened to Shinseki). I was particularly interested in his recollection of Colin Powell walking into his office and asking what would happen if the U.S. invaded Iraq to "scour" the country and did not find any WMDs: Sounds like Powell knew the fix was in before any American soldier set foot in Iraq en masse.

[Inland]

2. Powell is whoring harder than ever, though.

You would think the lack of a paycheck or place in the org chart would lead to a little more honesty, but no.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=364&topic_id=165606&mesg_id=165606

[leveymg]

5. If Powell had been honest early, he could have been a real hero

But, it's too late for that. He'll go down with the ship.

[Inland]

6. Powell can't even be honest now. nt

[leveymg]

8. That would be an admission that he lied, which would be

an admission of dishonor. Unthinkable for a soldier. SOP for a politician, though.

The soldier-politicians at the Pentagon are in a no-win situation. They have to decide which they really are, and whether they serve the Constitution or this particular Administration, the nation or themselves. No easy choices.

[Inland]

9. Well, he could stop giving interviews NOW, if he can't in good

conscience defend the admin. Apparently, he is still deciding to lie in the service of the king. Sad.

[leveymg]

11. Colin doesn't know it's time to "just fade away."

[yodermon]

14. They HAVE to have some major dirt on Powell.

Not trying to excuse him here, but don't forget this:

and it seems that he is occasionally critical of the adminstration.. up to a point... and then he retreats. Fresh horse's head in his bed I guess.

I really have no evidence for this, just a gut feeling.

[leveymg]

20. He did cover-up the Mi Lai massacre, and it stayed

covered-up for almost a year until Sy Hersh finally broke the story in a little, out of the way journal. Colin was the Army's top political officer in Nam, which means that he was also privvy to the Pheonix Program assassinations, torture and concentration camps operation. The NYT (then under different management) decided to pick up the massacre story, and the rest is history.

I'm not sure if that's all the the dirt, but for me, it's enough to disqualify him from elected office.

[MountainLaurel]

21. Indicative of Powell's character

To be a good German while atrocities are happening.

[leveymg]

4. If Wilk' and Murtha speak for the Joint Chiefs, there will be no Iran war

This is not just one disgruntled former grunt. Wilkerson and Murtha are expressing a view that can not be openly stated by people who are still in uniform, but it increasingly represents the thinking of the most intelligent officers.

If this "radical administration" pushes the military further toward another disasterous misadventure in the Middle East, I believe the top officers and the CIA will quietly exercise contingencies to replace the Administration. There is a huge dossier of incredible dirt on * and company -- just the threat of releasing the classified files should be enough to drive them with soiled pants from the White House.

If the WaPo is reporting a "split in the ranks", even though we're not hearing the details, BushCo is already gone.

[MountainLaurel]

12. You really think so?

About the "exercising contingencies"? I'd always thought that obeying authority was the paramount issue for these folks and that no one would have the ovaries to come out and do something about the corruption they see.

[leveymg]

13. Yes. At the upper levels, the military and CIA are political institutions

The Plame and Larry Franklin (OSP-AIPAC) prosecutions have at least the tacit support of the upper brass in both organizations, otherwise they would not have gone anywhere.

If the White House and neocons press things too far, the DIA and CIA have miles of files under lock and key. Nobody would break the seals lightly -- that would be a coup, of sorts -- but that point isn't too far away. The real question is, has Poppy already agreed to an orderly early retirement for Junior and his crew?

Reading facial expressions, and between the lines, I think the jig is already up. They're just going through the motions and maintaining appearances of business as usual. It is most definitely not business as usual at the WH, and hasn't been since last summer.

[MountainLaurel]

16. Interesting perspective. Thanks!

:hi:

[Captain Hilts]

7. Military folks often don't fit into civilian Lib/Cons categories.

He's an excellent example of that.

[leveymg]

10. I've met a few like him. They give me reason for hope

that this country has a future as a democratic republic, and that we will not become The Third Reich Lite.

[BigBearJohn]

15. We should replace the word Rupublican with RADICAL in all situations

The Radical Administration
The Radical Party
The Radical Agenda
Fuck the Radicals

[TygrBright]

17. HEY!!! Speaking as a quondam "long-haired radical freak"...

... I RESENT that!

"Radical" is a perfectly respectable label that comes from the Latin "radix" meaning "root." A "radical" (politically speaking) is one who believes in restoring the ideological purity or correctness of his/her party/gov't/etc.

Since America has never been a monarchy, these imperialist nutjobs can't possibly be "restoring" any form of original purity in the ideological sense. I prefer the locution:

EXTREMIST

It's the EXTREMIST Party, the EXTREMIST Administration, the EXTREMIST Agenda, etc.

radically,
Bright

[greiner3]

18. And yet, Powell still whores for bushco in public;

Maybe he'll come out of the repug closet one day. It would be a huge catch if someone could persuade him to do it sooner than when it would mean a lot less.

[rodeodance]

19. he said that he was going to write a book (later)

[Boo Boo]

22. I so enjoy Rumsfeld's particular brand of horseshit.

Interviewed by CNN in November, Rumsfeld termed the suggestion of a cabal "ridiculous" and said of Wilkerson, "In terms of having firsthand information, I just can't imagine that he does."

That's classic. Wilkerson's accusation is that Cheney and Rummy (The Cabal) made decisions outside of normal channels so that the "bureaucracy" was unaware of them. Rumsfeld says, "ridiculous!," and then says he can't imagine that Wilkerson (Powell's deputy) had access to firsthand information, proving Wilkerson's point.

:silly:

[leveymg]

23. The scary thing, he's 19 points smarter than the other big-wigs

The neocons aren't great geniuses. They're just very well financed by billionaires and foreign intelligence agencies, and have hired some talented staff and consultants.

Follow the money behind PNAC, AEI and the Manhattan Institute, and you'll find the source of the problem.