Strategy Page On Being Revolted By Generals

I noted the other day that it seemed like the meme about the retired generals was about out of steam. I think there's a reason for that. Even the press realized they were crossing a line. Oh I know there are still a few diehards yapping about it, but they are not getting any traction.

Strategy Page has another little post mortem on the subject. They point out that the average soldiers made their voices heard through blogs and the internet. Let's put it this way; the generals weren't getting much support. I can personally vouch for that. My son, despite not being a big fan of Rumsfeld in the past and really not caring a lot for Bush (Which predates Bush's first election, BTW) thought the generals were extremely out of line. As in he thought somebody should pull them aside and tell them to sit down and shut up. And make them if they didn't want to do it voluntarily.

The mass media ran with the six generals, but got shot down by the troops and their blogs, message board postings and emails. It wasn't just a matter of the "troop media" being more powerful. No, what the troops had going for them was a more convincing reality. Unlike the six generals, many of the Internet troops were in Iraq, or had recently been there. Their opinions were not as eloquent as those of the generals, but they were also more convincing. Added to that was the complaint from many of the troops that, according to the American constitution, it's the civilians (in the person of the Secretary of Defense) that can dismiss soldiers from service, not the other way around. While the six generals were only expressing their opinions (which only active duty troops are restricted from doing, because of the different military legal system they operate under), it rubbed a lot of people (military and civilian) the wrong way because of the constitutional angle. 

I think the communication between soldiers and between soldiers and families that is possible today is a good thing. I think taking control of the narrative away from a few badly slanted press gatekeepers is also a good thing.