IRAQ WAR: Active and retired US Generals

The Second Gulf War has produced the first "you were there" TV accounts and a pride of retired generals (who I suppose come in prides, not flocks), once fearsome fighters but now TV talking heads. I find most of them boring, but I do not get angry. The active US brass do, as this Reuters report (4/3/03) informs us: "America's top general lashed criticized opponents of the US war plan in Iraq, particularly retired military officers who say the Pentagon leadership took needless risks by deploying inadequate ground combat forces. "It is not helpful to have those kind of comments come out when we've got troops in combat because, first of all, they're false, they're absolutely wrong, they bear no resemblance to the truth, and it's just harmful to our troops that are out there fighting very bravely, very courageously," Air Force Gen. Richard Myers told a Pentagon briefing. Myers, chairman of the US military's Joint Chiefs of Staff, labeled as "bogus" the recent criticism of the war plan and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld's role in crafting it. The blistering comments were uncharacteristic for Myers, who is generally unflappable and mild-mannered in public".

Ronald Hilton - 4/3/03