31 August 2007
| Challenging the Generals Why didn’t Colin Powell follow the conscience-led model of Dwight Eisenhower when the Bush Administration entered the Iraq war with less than the needed resources? But, of course, he was only Secretary of State, and not directly responsible for the military effort. Nevertheless, he clearly realized that even if the invasion of Iraq was a correct policy decision (for which he did have some direct responsibility), that the method to be pursued was inadequate. Some model for the generals that Lt. Col. Yingling decried in the journal article described by Paul Kaplan in the NYT Magazine of August 26, 2007! In imitation of Condoleeza Rice, George Tenet, Alberto Gonzales, Paul Bremer, Scooter Libby, and other Bush-Cheney-Rove sycophants, the top military have been inspired by General Powell’s example to not challenge their civilian leadership by refusing to undertake the impossible. You can’t rescue a misguided warfare policy, adopted for political survival, with a high technology show campaign. Moreover, that campaign has awful personal consequences for the enlisted military personnel who sacrifice their welfare and lives to fight it, and for the civilians whose community it destroys. |
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