Yeah!! we’re travelin’ down that lonesome road.
Feel like I’m dragging a heavy load.
Don’t try to turn my head away,
I’m flirtin’ with disaster every day.
Flirtin’ with disaster, baby,
Y’all know what I mean.
You know the way we run our lives,
It makes no sense to me.
I don’t know about yourself or,
What you plan to be – yea!!
When we gamble with our time,
We choose our destiny.*
The New York Times, self appointed arbiter of what top-secret information should be published, continues to try to politicize the military. Most of the time, the Times seems pretty contemptuous of the military, that is, unless, they think they can use the military to advance their political agenda. Today they publish a story detailing how lower ranks in the military are debating over the (media generated) furor caused by the revolting retired generals.
Only if you read the story, most of the blame is being laid squarely at the feet of the generals themselves:
An Army major who is an intelligence specialist said: "The history I will take away from this is that the current crop of generals failed to stand up and say, 'We cannot do this mission.' They confused the cultural can-do attitude with their responsibilities as leaders to delay the start of the war until we had an adequate force. I think the backlash against the general officers will be seen in the resignation of officers" who might otherwise have stayed in uniform.
One Army colonel enrolled in a Defense Department university said an informal poll among his classmates indicated that about 25 percent believed that Mr. Rumsfeld should resign, and 75 percent believed that he should remain. But of the second group, two-thirds thought he should acknowledge errors that were made and "show that he is not the intolerant and inflexible person some paint him to be," the colonel said.
I have enormous respect for the men and women who serve this country in the military. I'm also from a family with a long history in the Army. I am also totally repelled by the media attempt to stir up debate and unrest. This country has managed to maintain an admirably apolitical military for the most part. That tradition should stay intact.
The media is flirting with disaster here, and every American, left or right, in or out of uniform should be very upset with this. "When we gamble with our time, we choose our destiny."
* Molly Hatchet, Flirtin' With Disaster, 1979
UPDATE: This is positively brutal.
UPDATE: James Joyner on this subject. He points out that military officers (and enlisted personnel) have got a history of lively discussion of many things, including politics. Which, I know from experience is quite true. What's different here is an open attempt to influence civilian politics. That's the danger, to my way of thinking.
