My comment was written before Trump announced the raids on Iran.
Burn of the Day
- Donald R. McClarey
Donald R. McClarey
Cradle Catholic. Active in the pro-life movement since 1973. Father of three, one in Heaven, and happily married for 43 years. Small town lawyer and amateur historian. Former president of the board of directors of the local crisis pregnancy center for a decade.
I’m too young to remember generals who were actually focused on, you know, winning the war rather than managing the decline and puffing up their own resumes. I suppose we could trace this back to George McClellan.
Great point, Josh. I have to wonder why we even allow retired military personnel to become paid talking heads in the first place. I’ve not done any research on this point, but it occurs to me that former noncoms and commissioned officers ought to be prohibited for life from speaking or writing in public about military affairs for compensation, possibly with some kind of exception for legitimate teaching positions. The antics of these people like McCaffrey are pathetic, and hurt the country they swore to serve and protect.
There is freedom of speech after retirement from military service, but never for classified info. A former CIA director, whose clearance was pulled by Trump, is opining on the “12 Day War”. Which may mean there is a leak in the CIA. Or he has contact with Iran as he did, last I read, convert to Islam.
Always look for which administration promoted a general or flag. Reading Milley’s bio or Buttigieg.
Problem with officers who are promoted to General is that minor eccentricities are magnified into real policy and operational errors in the field of conflict. We are now treated to, and have to deal with, comments from some of these people that cause policy difficulty in the real world.