Yesterday I wrote,
There is no doubt at all that many many people who could have made a difference [during the Vietnam era], chose not to, and lived to regret it.
I only hope the generals in the Pentagon today won't look back in ten or twenty years and feel the same way.
How ironic that just this morning on C-SPAN's Washington Journal, I hear David Margolick, the author of a new article in Vanity Fair about the generals who spoke out to call for Donald Rumsfeld's resignation in April 2006.
Particularly striking is a quote from Lieutenant General Greg Newbold, who was the Director for Operations on the Joint Staff in 2002. Describing a pre-invasion planning meeting where Rumsfeld had "summarily dismissed [a 500,000 troop estimate because s]urely 125,000 would suffice," Newbold now says,
"I should have had the gumption to confront him. The right thing to do was to confront, and I didn't. It's something I'll have to live with for a long time."
Margolick goes on to write that Newbold would later voice his concerns to his superiors and, when he was ignored, retired from the Marine Corps later that same year. He didn't speak out at the time, but instead quietly folded his tent and faded away, as MacArthur suggested he should so many years before. Some irony there too, of course, since MacArthur was hardly a fading kind of soldier.
Still, it takes a special kind of courage for a senior military officer to take a stand against the policy of his civilian leaders. Not only might he lose his active duty job, but he frequently risks the loss of long-term friendships as well as potential earning opportunities within the defense contracting and consulting community. Too often with the current vindictive administration, he may even find his reputation shredded. But at least Newbold can know now that he refused to participate in an operation which would unnecessarily claim the lives of over 3000 of America's bravest and best. He should take some pride in that.
I am further reminded of the first general officer with the courage to call for Rumsfeld's resignation.
The following appeared in a Sept 2003 account of General Wesley Clark in New Hampshire:
Wesley Clark told a college audience in New Hampshire Friday [Sept 26, 2003] that he'd relieve Rumsfeld of his command. Others (Dean, Kerry) have called on Rumsfeld to resign, but this is the first we've seen that a major candidate would give Rumsfeld the boot.Gen. Wesley Clark, told a New Hampshire audience Friday night he had only fired one person in his life. On Saturday he said he wanted to fire a second person: Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld.
When asked at a house party on the Seacoast about what he would do in Iraq if elected president today, he was met with applause when he said, "First of all I would change the Secretary of Defense. Then I would go to the commanders of the ground and go to Iraq myself personally and I would develop an exit strategy that gives us a success and lets us downsize our commitment there."
Now obviously, by Sept 2003, General Clark had overcome any reticence he may have felt in criticizing the Bush administration or any of its members. Much as Eisenhower overcame his own feelings when he found himself at odds with Truman over Korea. Fact is, we have had twelve generals elected president, probably at least a dozen more who ran unsuccessfully for the office, and I daresay every one of them at some point voiced misgivings about the officials he sought to replace.
Nevertheless, one reason US democracy succeeds is precisely because our military is not political. Its officers are sworn to follow the orders of an elected commander-in-chief, as well as the civilians he appoints to run the Department of Defense. The concept itself is deeply ingrained in military culture, and we would never want a military where it isn't. No military officer should take the option to dissent lightly. In fact, it's a damn shame, and may yet pose a danger to our nation, that our president has so profoundly abused the military, both the soldiers and the institution, that there are probably too many officers who find themselves wondering, how much farther can this go? When must I too say, enough is enough?
But there comes a point at which a military officer of conscience must stand up and be counted. It's when the civilians behave illegally or immorally -- that too is deeply ingrained in military culture. We owe it to the soldiers we once led. We owe it to the country we love.
Or as General Clark said about why he ran for president, the day after he dropped out of contention:
What I did is I answered a call to duty... And I did because every soldier that died in Iraq, I would have felt guilty about the rest of my life had I not come into this race. I've done everything I can to make a difference for the men and women in uniform and for working people around this country.
Wes Clark continues to do everything he can to make a difference for the men and women in uniform. StopIranWar.com, for one example. VoteVets.org for another. We can hope other generals join him soon. But we cannot stop there. Each of us must do everything we can too. The men and women who risk their lives every day deserve at least that much.
