I once had two different Lieutenants pat me on the back because I stood up to my commander, and the secret patting says it all. The time to speak up, through the chain of command, the time to be a citizen first, the time to put the career on the line, is not after retirement.
“In the essay, in this week's issue of Time magazine, General Newbold wrote, ‘I now regret that I did not more openly challenge those who were determined to invade a country whose actions were peripheral to the real threat — Al Qaeda.’"
Our civilian government makes the determination as to the treat, and we all do it with our votes, and protests, and we had a vote after the invasion that could have changed the mission drastically; the real threat in my opinion is the safe harbors, and Afghanistan was not the only one. So the General should have no more power in his challenge than any of us American citizens do. And nothing the General says can remove the words “Iraq” and “Iraqi” from the three facts in the February 23, 1998 fatwa of Al Quacka, nor can it do anything to remove the safe harbors of the magical “they” that Saddam said “should, rather, be reassured and helped to save themselves, and their surroundings:”
“On the basis of what we said about Iraq while confronting aggressions, the world now needs to abort the US aggressive schemes, including its aggression on the Afghan people, which must stop.
Again we say that when someone feels that he is unjustly treated, and no one is repulsing or stopping the injustice inflicted on him, he personally seeks ways and means for lifting that justice. Of course, not everyone is capable of finding the best way for lifting the injustice inflicted on him. People resort to what they think is the best way according to their own ideas, and they are not all capable of reaching out for what is beyond what is available to arrive to the best idea or means.
To find the best way, after having found their way to God and His rights, those who are inflicted by injustice need not to be isolated from their natural milieu, or be ignored deliberately, or as a result of mis-appreciation, by the officials in this milieu. They should, rather, be reassured and helped to save themselves, and their surroundings.” (Saddam Hussein Shabban 13, 1422 H. October 29, 2001.)
“Many officers who served in Iraq also say privately that regardless of flawed war planning or early mistakes by civilian and military officers, the American public would hold the current officer corps responsible for failure in Iraq. These officers do not want to discuss doubts about the mission publicly now. General Newbold acknowledged these issues, saying he decided to go public only after ‘the encouragement of some still in positions of military leadership‘ and in order to ‘offer a challenge to those still in uniform.’"
I personally see no difference between General Newbold, and the weak-kneed officers he claims exist, and the Lieutenants that patted me on the back.
General Newbold felt the “Constitution” part of the oath important enough to mention, now let us take a look at what he said:
“A leader's responsibility ‘is to give voice to those who can't — or don't have the opportunity to — speak,’ General Newbold wrote. ‘Enlisted members of the armed forces swear their oath to those appointed over them; an officer swears an oath not to a person but to the Constitution. The distinction is important.’"
Really? I say Bull! I swore my enlistment oath in front of a picture of a president I hated, that I thought had killed a friend of mine with his “liberal“ crap, so I guess I had a reason to remember the oath better than General Newbold (After his commissioning as a second lieutenant in 1970 he attended The Basic School in Quantico, VA, where he was designated an infantry officer):
"I, _____, do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and that I will obey the orders of the President of the United States and the orders of the officers appointed over me, according to regulations and the Uniform Code of Military Justice. So help me God." (Title 10, US Code; Act of 5 May 1960 replacing the wording first adopted in 1789, with amendment effective 5 October 1962).
http://www.army.mil/cmh-pg/faq/oaths.htm
Now when did General Newbold take the oath that said “I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic?” What did they do, make him an officer without enlistment first?
Even John Kerry took that enlistment oath before becoming an officer and taking the officer‘s oath. Take my word for it, it is in his records.
We all could have voted for Dennis Kucinich and ended the mission in Iraq really quick!
