Free Republic

A trio of retired generals is urging Defense Secretary James Mattis not to delay accepting transgender recruits into the military after reports that the Pentagon chief was considering such a move. “Defense Secretary Jim Mattis has stated that he will make personnel decisions based on evidence about what best promotes force readiness,” retired Army Lt. Gen. Claudia Kennedy, retired Army Major Gen. Gale Pollock and retired Army Brig. Gen. Clara Adams-Ender wrote in a statement provided to The Hill.

Retired general backs Clinton on Iraq By JOHN DISTASO Senior Political Reporter A retired U.S. Army general visiting the state to campaign for Hillary Clinton said yesterday she does not oppose the Iraq war -- and she said she's never heard Clinton oppose it, either. Retired Lt. Gen. Claudia Kennedy, the Army's first woman to reach the three-star rank, said she supports Clinton's promise to withdraw the majority of U.S. troops from Iraq if she is elected President. But Kennedy said she does not consider her position to be opposing the war as it is currently being conducted. Kennedy, 60,...

In the nineteen months since the war in Iraq began, some of the most outspoken critics of President Bush's plan of attack have come from a group that should have been the most supportive: retired senior military leaders. We spoke with a group of generals and admirals that included a former supreme Allied commander and a former chairman of the Joint Chiefs, and they all agreed on one thing: Bush screwed up. Gen. Merrill "Tony" McPeak, Air Force chief of staff, 1990-94 We have a force in Iraq that's much too small to stabilize the situation. It's about half the...

The highest-ranking woman in U.S. Army history campaigned for Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry in Rock Hill on Wed-nesday, telling Democratic Party faithful that President Bush had no clue what he was getting into in Iraq. Retired Lt. Gen. Claudia Kennedy said Bush has no clue how to get out of Iraq either. Kennedy, a 32-year Army veteran, was the first woman to become a three-star Army general. She served as deputy chief of staff for intelligence under President Clinton. Kerry is the right person to finish the job in Iraq, she said. Bush and Cheney have continued to say...

A retired Army general Tuesday criticized President Bush’s pre-emptive strike foreign policy, saying it has distracted the United States from the real war on terror and alienated it from the rest of the world. Lt. Gen. Claudia Kennedy told a group of 15 at a downtown Colorado Springs coffee shop that Americans must elect a leader to rebuild coalitions damaged by the U.S. invasion of Iraq. If John Kerry is elected, Kennedy said, “the international community will meet us halfway. They’ll be so delighted to work with someone who will treat them with mutual respect, rather than the current administration’s...

Even as John Kerry lapses into pacifist rhetoric -- describing the military under President Bush as a "back-door draft" is a scare tactic from his anti-war days -- Kerry casts himself as strong on national defense. To appear sufficiently militaristic in the eyes of the moderates he needs to win, Kerry cobbled together a board of military advisers this week. Kerry is turning for advice to, among others, Claudia Kennedy, the first female three-star general -- a feminist famous during the Clinton years for charging a fellow general (whose advancement she hoped to stop) with "inappropriate touching." Kerry's selection of...

Even as John Kerry lapses into pacifist rhetoric -- describing the military under President Bush as a "back-door draft" is a scare tactic from his anti-war days -- Kerry casts himself as strong on national defense. To appear sufficiently militaristic in the eyes of the moderates he needs to win, Kerry cobbled together a board of military advisers this week. Kerry is turning for advice to, among others, Claudia Kennedy, the first female three-star general -- a feminist famous during the Clinton years for charging a fellow general (whose advancement she hoped to stop) with "inappropriate touching." Kerry's selection of...

Sorry, Sorry, Sorry! On Thursday, May 6, Pres. Bush publicly apologized to Jordan’s King Abdullah II for the abuse of Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib. I wasn’t aware that Abdullah was the king of Iraq. Apparently, when America screws up, our leader must apologize to any and every Moslem in the world, to people who exuberantly support torture, as long as it is carried out by Moslems. I must have missed King Abdullah II’s apology for the butchering of four American civilians in Falluja. King Abdullah is a “moderate, pro-U.S.” Arab, which means that his statements in support of genocidal...