Top US officer warns not to mix military, politics(ref. to Ret. Gens' attacks on Iraq war policy)

[maddezmom]

Source: Reuters

Source: Reuters
WASHINGTON, May 23 (Reuters) - Military officers who denounce policies they helped implement are "cowardly," the top U.S. officer charged on Friday in an apparent reference to retired generals' attacks on Iraq war policy.

Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of staff, told U.S. Naval Academy graduates that military officers face two options when political leaders do not follow their advice -- obey orders or quit.

~snip~

"We give our best advice beforehand," he said. "If it's followed, great. If it's not, we only have two choices -- obey the orders we have been given, carrying them out with the professionalism and loyalty they deserve, or vote with our feet.

"That's it. We don't get to debate those orders after the fact. We don't get to say, 'Well, it's not how I would have done it,' or, 'If they had only listened to me,'" he said in Annapolis, Maryland. "Too late at that point and too cowardly."

In the past four years, some retired military officers who were on active duty during the initial stages of the Iraq war have publicly criticized the Bush administration's policy and management of that conflict.


Read more: http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N23221091.htm

[DrDan]

1. "cowardly" - a strong word and one I am sure he carefully chose

to make a bigger impact with those that are speaking out.

Too bad he is not more flexible in his thinking - as new evidence turns up, as tactics and strategies fail, as world leaders change - all can lead to changes in advice. That is junior's problem - he is extremely rigid - and refuses to acccept that changing circumstances might have an impact on this actions.

[angstlessk]

2. oh, oh, oh, oh...I have the answer for that...CUT OUR THEIR TONGUES

as a retirement ceremony..that would cure any dissent in the retired generals...see how easy everything REALLY is??

[annabanana]

3. It is cowardly (and illegal) to follow illegal orders because you

fear for your career.

[Arctic Dave]

4. So then, I guess this fuktard thinks the Iraq occupation is a good thing.

I hope I meet this asshole one day so I can slap the ever living shit out of him.

[DCKit]

5. K&R for the spot-on comments.

What a ham-handed, amateur attempt to stifle dissent. How (R) can you get?

[damntexdem]

6. That's "retired." R-E-T-I-R-E-D! Get it, Mullen?

They've left, so they don't have to mouth the party line anymore, nor remain silent about the idiocy of the party line.

[Turner Ashby]

7. Many of these Generals retired early.

They were NOT forced out. They voted with their feet and their career. They have earned the right to speak out. They did not lose their rights as citizens of the Republic. Mullen is politicizing the military far more than these guys who are speaking out now. In fact, most of them that I have watched on CSpan were scrupulous in not stepping on the toes of the civilian leadership. Mullen is a fraud.

[buckrogers1965]

8. Duty, Honor, Country.

The only cowardly act is not speaking out when you see wrong in the world.

It takes bravery to stand there with the feeble light of truth, alone against the dark crashing waves of ignorance.

It is your duty, your honor requires that you speak out in defense of this country against all enemies, both foreign and domestic. Even if those enemies hold high office.

[muriel_volestrangler]

9. Has Mullen spoken out against the use of retired generals as catspaws of the administration?

I bet not. If Bush and Cheney sent out their favoured retired officers to shill for them in the media, then it's all the more important for the honest ones to speak up about what the regime is doing wrong.

[bean fidhleir]

10. The headline is completely misleading.

He's saying the right thing. Hell, his position goes back to Napoleon at least: the commander on the ground must not obey a bad order. He must protest, protest, and finally quit rather than give an order he knows should not be given.