Why I think retired Generals should STFU
General Tso likes his chicken spicey.
You know, is that the best you can come up with if you object to what he's saying? I'm tired of seeing so many of these threads from people who have sincere reservations about how things have been handled get hijacked by pranksters trying to divert discussion -The STFU crowd should take its own advice. I think his critiques are sincere and well reasoned. I found these to be particularly compelling:
"For that reason, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's recent statement that "we" made the "right strategic decisions" but made thousands of "tactical errors" is an outrage. It reflects an effort to obscure gross errors in strategy by shifting the blame for failure to those who have been resolute in fighting. The truth is, our forces are successful in spite of the strategic guidance they receive, not because of it.
What we are living with now is the consequences of successive policy failures...McNamara-like micromanagement that kept our forces from having enough resources to do the job...the initial denial that an insurgency was the heart of the opposition to occupation...and the continuing failure of the other agencies of our government to commit assets to the same degree as the Defense Department. My sincere view is that the commitment of our forces to this fight was done with a casualness and swagger that are the special province of those who have never had to execute these missions -or bury the results."
Agree or disagree..retired generals are the only ones that should speak out in this manner.