[livius]

Agreed. My son was in the Navy under Clinton, and they hated Clinton, but nobody was dumb enough to state this publicly.

I think these soldiers shouldn't be punished but warned. Most of all, I think they should be warned about the fact that the press is not their friend, and basically wants to attack GWB through them, and doesn't care if it makes them look bad or sends them up before Captain's Mast in the process.

Remember, most of the press is what would have been considered "4-F."

[bicycle thug]

"I think these soldiers shouldn't be punished but warned."

In the 1800s, officers tried to reat soldiers as severly as they treated underclassmen at West Point. That worked well in creating stellar officers who deeply cared about "God, Honor, and Country," but as we have always had "citizen soldiers" who came forward to leave civilian life behind to help with the military mission at hand, this was changed in the twentieth century to a more moderate treatment that took the citizen rights of soldiers more into consideration.

I was often told that the strenght of our soldiers who dared ask questions and sometimes bickered and complained was that they could be counted on taking charge if superiors were killed and they were called on to make sure they and their fellows accomplished the mission.

I'm sure this was more transitory and situational then indicative of a wholesale breakdown of unit cohesion and a lack of respct for the chain of command.

They should have their 'Richards' slapped. And if they did this again, then whether or not more stringent measures were implimented could be revisited.

I have faith that these are basically good men who care about their job. And I would fel better if they were given the oppertunity to prove this.

Creating deep fears of reprisal is no real way to run any army.