A Few Thoughts On...

Illogical statements:

Regardless of your feelings on the war in Iraq, its constant review is necessary to make sure that the military’s tactics evolve accordingly in order to successfully combat the ever changing insurgency- one that is keenly aware that its survival and affect on American troops is dependant on constant reinvention. With that being said, many politicians/bureaucrats in the Bush administration have vocalized their view that it is inappropriate to criticize the Pentagon, the Defense Secretary, and the President during a time of war. Pardon me, but that seems to be quite an egregious assertion. So, really, what they are saying is that people (read: retired generals, military and DOD staff who’ve actually witnessed the war first hand) should not criticize how the war is being managed during the war- when lives are at stake, fresh approaches to cultivating a broken nation are vital, and when making the necessary changes is essential to ensuring that Iraq is reconstructed, politically and physically, well enough to return it to the functioning international community. Here is what some defenders of Secretary Rumsfeld had to say the other day about a Wall Street Journal article in which four retired generals dropped the hammer on Rumsfeld: "We do not believe that it is appropriate for active duty, or retired, senior military officers to publicly criticize U.S. civilian leadership during war" (CNN.com). Oh, you don’t? Well, that makes sense. The quote is actually rather contradictory- military officers shouldn't criticize civilian leadership? Ok. Nothing says "we take responsibility and accountability" like claiming that criticizing those in charge is inappropriate. And this is coming from the party that opposes big government intervention. Maybe they believe they are above critique.

What is really being said seems to be “don’t bitch and moan until after military operations have ceased…and it's too late to fix our mistakes.” Can anyone explain this? When a football team is struggling to win, you don't hear its fans saying, "don't criticize the coach while the season is still in progress." You see quite the opposite, actually. There are blatant demands for his immediate removal, for a change to be made so that hopefully the team can muster some success in what’s left of that season. That's only football; this is real life with real consequences (i.e.: death, chaos, civil war). It is absurd to think that the citizenry should be reprimanded for criticizing its elected officials' mishandling of what has turned into a very unpopular, under-supported war, especially when those citizens are former military higher-ups who've got more credibility than any suit in Washington. It's not about how people think the war should be handled (not this time, anyway). It's about the nuaseating selfrightesouness of those who feel that criticizing those who made the decision to start it is unecessary. Hopefully democracy will show these fools to the door. Unreal.