In tomorrow's New York Time magazine is a 7 page article about General Barry McCaffrey, an Army Officer I had a lot of respect for until I read this tonight, just about 2 hours ago. To say I am disappointed in a person I had the utmost respect for, I held him in same high esteem I hold Wes Clark in, no more for McCaffrey, he has sold the Army and this nation out for profit and stock options. He used his "position" as a respected "non-political type" military person, now we learn he is the "military industrial complex" that General Eisenhower warned us about in 1960. Below is my letter to Steve Capus at NBC on how I feel. I hope you will all do the same, he needs to come off the air.
Mr. Capus, I know I am just a viewer, with an opinion which may or may not mean much to you, but I served under Major Barry McCaffrey in 1979 in HHC 2/30th Infantry, 3rd Infantry Division and until I read that New York Times article tonight, I had the utmost respect and admiration for him and one other retired 4 star, Wes Clark, I served under him at Fort Irwin in the 80's and again during Desert Storm, my Georgia Army National Guard Brigade was sent there for training in Jan 1991 and Wes, was a one star.
I was an enlisted man, a SP4 in Germany under McCaffrey and a Staff Sergeant at Fort Irwin under Wes Clark. You seldom ever work for an officer of that caliber let alone 2 of them, and I respected them. I guess I am just one more of those men Secretary Kissinger described
"Kissinger referred pointedly to military men as "dumb, stupid animals to be used" as pawns for foreign policy" from "The Final Days" by Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, page 194 to line 14 of page 195.
Many people have asked me about the origin of that quote from Henry Kissinger
regarding military men, again, as cited above, it came from Woodward and Bernstein's "The
Final Days" (1976).
I was sickened tonight when I read the New York Times article on Barry McCaffrey, then I made the mistake of reading Cal Thomas's OP-ED about General McCaffrey I had to post a comment on the newspaper site
Mission Accomplished Part II
Mike Bailey wrote on Nov 29, 2008 10:11 PM:
" This assessment might be more believable if I had not just read the New York Times article on how much General McCaffrey is making on his stock options from companies doing business in Iraq, he is making millions on the protraction of this war. To think I served under this man and respected him until about an hour ago. Where does duty, honor and country and integrity fit into making millions of dollars by keeping this war going? I am glad LTG McCaffrey isn't alive to see what his son has become. In Korea the business girls earned their money on their backs, and they have more honor than this man. He lost his objectivity in exchange for money. "
I don't see how you can ever put him on the air again and make people believe him, I don't any longer. I believe in the words "Duty, Honor and Country", Officers are supposed to be honest, have integrity, General McCaffrey shows me the only thing he has is a love of money. How many more soldiers have been killed or wounded while he was making his deals? It appears now he was using your networks to cheer lead for President Bush's misguided adventure in Iraq, even after the media reported on the inside deals that the "military analysts" were getting from Rumsfeld's PR operation. CNN let General Marks go, even Faux news cut back on their cheer leaders, not NBC and General McCaffrey, why? Is now the time to take him off the air? I think so, but then as Dr Kissinger stated " military men as "dumb, stupid animals to be used" as pawns for foreign policy" no we are not, we believe in this nation, that is why we serve or we did serve.
My father, my grandfather and all of the Bailey men have served the US Army since 1776, when this nation became the United States, we all served as enlisted men, but then someone has to. Duty is part of being an American, we owe each other in this nation, we expect honesty from our leaders and deception is not acceptable, integrity is required from our leaders, it is not an option.
Please do the right thing and remove this man from the public airwaves. They belong to "we the people".
Michael G Bailey
Columbia SC
100% disabled Army veteran
1973-1982 US Army SSG
1988-1992 National Guard activated for Desert Storm
Contact Steve Capus steve.capus@nbc.com