"Cry havoc and let slip the dogs of war." Julius Caesar, William Shakespeare
Well, in this sad and sorry case, cry foul planning and drop the leashes on the affenpinschers of political expediency and set them after the wily old fox, the Secretary of Defense, Mr. Rumsfeld, to yip and nip at his polished wingtips.
Never content to be left out of the limelight--especially with victorious grail seekers like Wes Clark on a cyclonic rampage, writing Democratic battle plans, appearing on Fox News, firmly declaring this and that, appearing with Madeleine albright, announcing that al Gore is now the man since Chico has flown the coop, writing critiques on war rivaling Caesar's, looking steely, grimacing righteously, flashing newly capped teeth--sooner or later other, lesser political generals with inferior credentials, would recognize a narrow political opening, join the fray and begin to flay the fox.
Unlike the sea lords noted for the "admiral's Revolt" in the late 1940s, where the leaders of the US Navy laid their careers on the line to discuss actual strategy and offensive systems following the creation of the US air Force, the Department of Defense and its civilian leadership, today's decidedly more politic and facile army hounds are piling on the scrum to beleaguer Mr. Rumsfeld out of raw political expediency.
With the outrageous humiliations routinely heaped on Mr. Bush, the stage has been set for some time for the garish appearance of the junior generals to paw at the heels of those running american defense and then elbow their way into the Democratic soup line for the ready hand outs coming in the next great New Deal, which, they've been promised, lies just beyond the western sunset.
The Democratic band wagon is bleating beneath the newly consigned concretion of Lt. Gen. Gregory Newbold, Maj. Gen. Paul Eaton and Gen. anthony Zinni, all of whom are chasing the political mirage, currying favor like it's going out of style, biting at the fetlocks and gnawing at the pantlegs of Mr. Rumsfeld.
Gen. Peter Pace, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, has questioned Newbold's ability to critique the war and its strategy and explained that he retired six months before the war began and that the strategy Newbold now castigates wasn't even the same one he was familiar with.
"When did their personal knowledge end?" Pace is reported to have asked of Newbold, who had no real idea what really went on behind the scenes after he left.
Gen. Eaton, who was in command of the training for the Iraqi military in 2003 and 2004, and who therefore bears a large responsibility for their initial poor showing in the field, claimed in a New York Times op ed column in March that the entire Pentagon has been a victim of Mr. Rumsfeld's ego. What cheek.
Gen. Pace is quick to point out that he doesn't have any information showing whether Gen. Eaton ever raised any concerns before he left the service. No, his worries only appeared, it seems, when the Times could air them safely.
and Zinni, in his book, Battle Ready states that Iraq was the wrong war at the wrong time with the wrong strategy, an exact parrot and Xerox copy of the Democratic leadership's echo of everybody else's ectype of what every liberal newscaster or "journalist" with any salt was saying and is still broadcasting about the war. Who was on base first is hard to say, but like "gravitas," or "scapegoat," or "incompetent," if every virtuoso says it, it must be "true."
Interestingly, Zinni, in a 2004 CBS interview about the book, lampoons everybody--while praising his own astute staff work and that of Mr. Clinton's and his good friend, Gen. Shinseki--that people screwed up and that heads should roll faster than they do in Mecca on apostate day due to the poor post invasion planning. Surprisingly, the man in charge of training the Iraqi army at that time was none other than--Gen. Eaton. I wonder if Eaton read the book--the media certainly never made the connection.
Today's buffalo hunting generals are a far cry from yesterday's admirals-- currying favor inside the service, never voicing the slightest concern while in uniform, feathering their own nest, then safely tweaking the tails of those in charge when the pension is safely banked away to curry favor with the political party offering the largest and quickest return.
You won't find a Billy Mitchell--willing to state his case on airpower before a court martial and put his career on the line to keep america safe, and who eventually resigned--in this crowd of temperamental fox hounds ready for the chase.
No, it is far better to hector Mr. Rumsfeld from the safety of the lecture circuit, the summer home and the Times while draped in Democratic vestments than to go on record while in the service and risk the good life for a principle.
They're after the fox from the easy chair.
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