I haven't heard of generals with this much spine since MacArthur. In Vietnam, the White House micromanaged the war and kept us from winning it, but he generals (who must have been furious) kept quiet. These Iraq WAr generals are showing more backbone.
Care to define what you mean by "spine"?
He was the commander that let a much smaller Japanese force crush him in the Phillipines. AFTER getting his air forces caught on the ground by the Japanese air attacks -- despite having the warning of what had happened in Pearl. Worse, he accepted an MOH for this great failure. He then spent the rest of WWII fighting the Navy more than the Japanese. He wasted great effort on taking every little Japanese post in New Guineau. In the Phillipines liberation, he once again was bled heavily by a smarter Japanese commander. His ego led him to punish anyone who embarassed him. From Wainwright (sp?) for surrendering after Duguot left to never promoting the Lt. Colonel who organized the massive Filipino resistance to sentencing Yamashita to death for resisting so strongly, MacArthur never missed a chance to zap those who hurt his ego.
It was his command that got caught flat-footed by the North Koreans at the start of the Korean War. It was his command that failed to cut off the North Koreans in the south after the US amphibious landings. It was his command that ignored the clear signs that the Chicoms were south of the Yalu in great numbers.
These cowardly retired generals are definitely in the MacArthur tradition of doing what's best for them and not what's best for their soldiers. We're better off with these vermin retired and away from the troops. Give me Rumsfeld, who has a clue and is listening to today's Pattons and Shermans, not these Beltway Bandits.
Backbone would have required them to speak up before they waited for retirement with full beneifts. Ret. General Tommy Franks has never complained about troop strength, etc. even after he retired. He was the CIC of this war which one of the most efficient in taking an entire country. MacArthur was a great man but he made mistakes as well. Just ask the Chinese in N.Korea. How many generals that haven't retired are not complaining?
These Iraq WAr generals are showing more backbone.
Backbone would have been the proper term before they retired. I see no backbone here, just opportunism and possibly preparations for book deals and speaking engagements. Armchair politics is what I see here.
it's not backbone to speak out AFTER you're safely retired with full pension and benefits .. it's backbone to resign openly over an issue where you feel strongly, and then to speak out, regardless of the consequences to yourself and your pension. I haven't seen that among this crowd, so it looks like sour grapes.
It doesn't take much backbone when you're already retired....and of course most (all?) of them are Army generals and that's the branch of the service that Rumsfield has been trying the hardest to modernize! I've had several friends promoted to general officer grade and if not for Clinton and what he did to the military, most of them would have never received a star under Reagan, Bush-41, etc etc....because most of the ones with true backbone retired and got the hell out of dodge rather than put up with Clinton's policies (or lack thereof...)