From Good Harbor Report
By Gen. Don Kerrick
I'm afraid history will judge that our senior military leaders along with their civilian political leaders failed the nation in the planning and execution of the war in Iraq.
The decision not to re-nominate Pete Pace confirms that the administration knows their plans in Iraq have failed and they are reluctant to have a confirmation hearing on a chairman that would place more public scrutiny on those policies. It is surprising that the President and Secretary Gates would support the nomination of George Casey to become the Chief of Staff for the Army but not support Pace's re-nomination. Are they dissatisfied with his military advice so much that they are unwilling to stand by him and their policies. Casey made it thru confirmation, so why wouldn't Pace? Is there something more?
Are he and the VCJCS becoming the administrations' fall guys for their larger failures in Iraq? If they were giving poor military advice they should have been relieved sooner. If the President was dissatisfied with their military advice he should have said to the American people that sometime ago and replaced them. He didn't so this shows their lack of political courage to stand by them. When history around the Bush Administration is written, courage will not be one of the strong points.
We all know now that there have been many problems with the planning and conduct of military operations in Iraq.
That said, military forces and their generals win and lose battles. Nations win and lose wars. While the military may be remembered for losing Iraq, the nation is losing the war and many more then the military leaders should be held accountable.
Pace has had a couple of other missteps that likely didn't help his cause. His recent statements on homosexuals serving in the military and his letter supporting Libby were not what is normally expected to come from a sitting CJCS. In the end, the dumping of the CJCS and VCJCS is all about Iraq, the failure of the administrations policies, and their lack of courage to stand by their military leadership as they stand by their civilian political leaders.
I personally believe that our senior military leaders failed the nation by not standing up to their civilian leadership in the beginning and insisting on strategies, missions and forces that would have produced a different outcome in Iraq.
Sadly, they are now paying a price for their misguided loyalty.
1 comment:
This is a stall tactic by the White House. They put a General in charge to lie, once their used up the White House put another General in the job to lie. I feel bad for the troops as they have faith in these officers and now find out their lying to them. The Bush Administration as destroyed the honor and truth of our United States Military. To see so many high ranking officers disorder the service is one I hope never to see again. Gates is just another puppet and will be replaced when the public get tired of his lies. Our troops didn't fail in their mission they were lied to and were sent in Iraq to be killed. The hired contractors are setting the tone of this mess. Our troops are just pushed in the front. I notice the media never says a word about the contractor's even the ones who tortured prisoners. The contractors are just paid killers as the enemy kills our soldiers.
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