It's hard work keeping track of recently retired generals in the US Army demanding regime change in the Department of Defense...starting at the top. The most recent one is retired Army Maj. Gen. John Batiste, who commanded the 1st Infantry Division in Iraq in 2004-2005. He's quoted as saying:
We need leadership up there that respects the military as they expect the military to respect them. And that leadership needs to understand teamwork.
It speaks volumes that guys like me are speaking out from retirement about the leadership climate in the Department of Defense.
The article in the Washington Post goes on to say:
Batiste's comments resonate especially within the Army: It is widely known there that he was offered a promotion to three-star rank to return to Iraq and be the No. 2 U.S. military officer there but he declined because he no longer wished to serve under Rumsfeld. Also, before going to Iraq, he worked at the highest level of the Pentagon, serving as the senior military assistant to Paul D. Wolfowitz, then the deputy secretary of defense.
Batiste said he believes that the administration's handling of the Iraq war has violated fundamental military principles, such as unity of command and unity of effort. In other interviews, Batiste has said he thinks the violation of another military principle -- ensuring there are enough forces -- helped create the Abu Ghraib abuse scandal by putting too much responsibility on incompetent officers and undertrained troops.
Bush'll stand by him. He always stands by those who do the most damage to our country.
Very nice write up. Easy to understand and straight to the point.
Posted by: Term Papers | December 14, 2009 at 08:41 PM
Nice post. Keep it up.
Posted by: Term Papers | December 23, 2009 at 09:42 PM