The Revolt of the Generals: Just Short of a Coup Against the Incompetence of the Busheviks?
A BUZZFLASH EDITORIAL
Now, even the generals are revolting.
It is unprecedented for former military brass to rise up and denounce the Secretary of Defense in such scathing terms and call for his resignation.
It is a sign of how deeply flawed and failed the Bush Administration Iraq war policy and anti-terrorism efforts have been that it has come down to this: Americans and their elected officials must choose between the military analysis and advice of the military leadership with wartime experience or the arrogant stubborn failure of two draft evaders, Dick Cheney and George W. Bush. Add to that, Donald Rumsfeld who served in the military but never had combat experience.
In whose hands do you think America is safer in terms of wars: the generals or the bumblers at Bush Inc?
The Republicans stay silent or condemn the generals. Bush, with all the brain wattage of a snail, stands behind a man (Rumsfeld) who surpasses even George's standard of failure, and the Democrats think that they look tough by failing to give groundcover to the nation's former top commanders. (The current top brass must openly support their "Commander-in-Chief," but Congressman John Murtha is tacitly speaking out on their behalf.)
It's not that Rumsfeld's resignation would alone begin to turn this nation back from being run by the crew of the Titanic, but it would restore hope that there is some accountability for the disastrous failure in performance by our one-party Republican government.
Donald Rumsfeld would be the first one to walk the plank, but hopefully just the beginning of the day of reckoning.
The former top brass calling for Rumsfeld to depart join a long list of former Bush Administration officials who have come out to reveal the true Machiavellian, mendacious, and incompetent operation of the White House. This includes Richard Clarke, Paul O'Neill, and Colin Powell's former Chief of Staff.
Then there is the crusty Marine hero, John Murtha, a Democratic Congressman who hasn't backed down from his assessment that the Iraq War is an utter failure.
Unfortunately, the Democratic leadership in the Congress is not backing up these patriots, not even their own John Murtha, even if they give him a whisper of support.
BuzzFlash heard a story (which we will officially call a rumor) that a congressional leader in running the Democratic campaign to retake the House told a Dem running for an open seat not to bring up the resignation of Rumsfeld? "Why?" the Dem aspirant -- who will likely win -- asked. Because, it didn't poll well, he was allegedly told.
Whether the story is true in its specifics, it is true in the approach that the Democratic leadership in Congress is taking toward the mid-term elections. The national Dem Congressional platform appears to be simply this: "Vote for us. We're less corrupt than they are, and we are much more sane."
We'd agree with that statement wholeheartedly, but it's hardly a ringing battle cry when others, like the former generals and your own Congressman Murtha are taking the Iraq issue right to the front line -- at personal risk to their reputations and their good fortune, due to the proven vindictive nature of the White House. (Just ask Joe Wilson.)
Message to the timid Democratic Congressional leadership: Democrats appear weak when they don't stand up for the truth and they leave former generals and burly ex-Marine congressman to speak out for how we can attempt to achieve true national security.
For the Democratic Congressional leadership to let the generals sound the alarm without rallying to their side; for the Democratic Congressional leadership to allow Murtha to steadfastly state the case against Bush without resoundingly backing him up; for the Democratic Congressional leadership to let former Bush Administration officials, without protecting their flanks, argue the case for how Bush and Cheney and Rumsfeld lied us into war -- this is not supporting our military and our soldiers.
This is to abandon them.
A BUZZFLASH EDITORIAL