I've been watching the retired military on Late Edition and am thoroughly disgusted. One general, Batiste?, is laying the blame for Haditha at the feet of Rumsfeld. He cites how dissenting ideas were shot down and the dissenters rebuked. The dissent he refers to is about troop levels and invasion strategies. I have a different view...
After hearing from him, Wolf interviews 3 other retired military officers. One is very critical of Batiste while the others are more measured in their comments. The discussion still centers around troop levels and invasion plans.
Wolf plays a snippet of an interview with a grunt talking about the strain and how people become desensitized to the horror over time. He says they become so accustomed to death and destruction they quit thinking about it. The members of Wolf's panel served in Vietnam so they claim to understand what this guy is talking about. They discuss the training all troops receive to prepare them for warfare rather than the loss of humanity the soldier described.
Let me be clear; I think Rumsfeld is guilty of lying to us to promote this war as ably demonstrated recently by Ray McGovern in Atlanta. What troubles me, and prompts this diary, is watching warmongers argue about why they've failed instead of examining the premise upon which they acted.
Arguing about the wisdom of the tactics used in an immoral strategic blunder is a fools errand. These geniuses are examples of why I distrust the military and have since Vietnam. Displays of ignorance such as this are what lead me to consider the term "military intelligence" an oxymoron.
As one who was just barely too young for Vietnam I'm fortunate to have avoided putting my life on the line for a lie. Even so, I'm aware that war is the most horrific creation of humankind. While there may be times when war is necessary, Iraq isn't one of those times. I'd really love to see these "dissenters" from the military address the decision to go to war with someone like Col. Karen Kwiatkowski -watch Why We Fight- rather than rehashing Rummy and the war's execution.