As hard as I try to sympathise with these generals retiring...

[baby_mouse]

All I can see is a bunch of new generals taking over their positions, wagging their tails with their tongues hanging out of their mouths, bumping against their shiny new crucifixes.

RUN AWAYYYY....

[jaysunb]

1. No....they shouldn't run away, they should

learn a lesson about silence in the face of harmful lies, and incompetence.

[TomInTib]

2. You are wrong in assuming they are all like Franks and Pace.

One rarely becomes a 2 or 3 star by being a lapdog.

These are, by and large, proud men who must be appalled by the current state of affairs.

[GrumpyGreg]

3. Thanks for that !

[baby_mouse]

4. I take your point, but couldn't they have spoken up *before*?

:eyes:

really, it's a bit late now, a little "after the fact". They must have known Iraq would be a total bug-fuck.

Yes, I know some of them did. I don't remember the names, I'm sure it's not at all unlikely that I'm annoyed with the wrong people. Pfah, non-post of the year, BM. It MIGHT have actually PREVENTED the war if enough of them had had a little more chutzpah...

[cynatnite]

5. They've said Rummy ignored their advice

I know many don't like Colin Powell, but even he recognized what we were getting into with Iraq. He said if we break it, we own it. And he was right. Civilian leadership ignored him, too.

[TomInTib]

9. If a career General Officer spoke out while commissioned...

he would be commiting professional suicide.

[WillyT]

7. Also... Zinni Said Today...

that some of these generals didn't believe what they were hearing, until they got on the ground in Iraq and saw for themselves how it was being mismanaged.

Some other General today also mentioned that many might not be standing up to Rumsfeld (leaving the military), because they are trying their best to protect the troops they're in charge of. Not just from the insurgents, but from what replacements Rummy might fill their vacancies with.

In any case, it's not an easy decision to make, IMHO!

:shrug:

[patrice]

8. That's my thought . . . Replace Rumsfeld and we will have to go

through a whole additional period of time in which someone new tries to get it "right", quite possibly not to succeed.

I'm wondering if our guys won't be their a shorter amoung of time if Rumsfeld stays and the People raise Hell about Bush's War, loud, long, and hard!

[genie_weenie]

6. Do you make it a habit to throw your career away?

Many Humans find it hard to abandon their belief systems and it only gets harder once you've invested year after year after year in a system. Generals have worked their way up the ranks and it's a hard thing to throw that away. Of course, they have invested their time in a structure that I find crude, puerile and wrong but hey...

[zydeco]

10. I'm glad to see anyone speak against Rummy.

Now ponder this? Who would replace Rummy? It would have to be another PNAC signee and most have moved on to more lucrative positions. Bolton only has a short time left at the U.N. Woolsey? God forbid. Just what would we end up with?