El Gato wrote: "Most of this particular group where the ones who helped tear it down."
I agree. Much as I'd like to think generals are selected solely for their military skills and knowledge, politics seems to be (or, during the Clinton era, seemed to be) a primary factor. These guys weren't promoted for bucking the system, and many of them did indeed oversee Clinton's deconstruction of the military. The military that is winning in Iraq is the military that survived Clinton, not the military that Clinton built.
Well said and very true. My service experience exposed me to the phenomena that "peacetime" officers are, for the most part, political animals. Competent wartime officers, NCO's and soldiers appear from obscurity.