PressCoverage

commencement to swiftboating from war lovers in 10, 9, 8....

General: Conservatives Are ‘Absolutely The Worst Thing That’s Happened’ To The U.S. Military
http://thinkprogress.org/2007/03/10/eaton-military/

Retired Army Maj. Gen. Paul Eaton, who was in charge of training the Iraqi military from 2003 to 2004, appeared last night on HBO’s Bill Maher Show.

“We are in the midst of recovering right now from a constitutional crisis where you had the executive trump the other branches of government,” Eaton said. “Thank god” Congress changed hands in November, he said, giving us “a chance to unsort and figure out how to get out from under this.”

Eaton lamented that so many service members believe that conservatives “are good for the military.” “That is rarely the case. And we have got to get a message through to every soldier, every family member, every friend of soldier,” that the Bush administration and its allies in Congress have “absolutely been the worst thing that’s happened to the United States Army and the United States Marine Corps.” Watch it:


One year ago this week, Eaton called for the resignation of then-Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld in a New York Times op-ed. Vanity Fair has a new article checking in on Eaton now:

His new business cards say “consultant,” primarily because he doesn’t know what else he now is. Since he spoke out, several possible defense-related jobs have mysteriously dried up. ‘Maybe it’s the way I part my hair,’ he says. In late January, his elder son, a 29-year-old Arabic linguist who is an army specialist, went to Afghanistan. His younger son, 27, an army captain who has already spent 14 months in Iraq, will probably go back before long.

Harry Boy

The new liberal democrat wouldn't be able to run the military, the first thing they would do is take their guns away from them.
Amen.

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Harry Boy (Genius)

In The Absence Of Law And Order Society Will Surely Destroy Itself

Fogbuster

And decorated WWII bomber pilot -- and God knows their life expectancy was about 50% in many theaters -- George McGovern was all for disarming the U.S. and totally trusting the Soviets and Red Chinese in the 1970s.

People are sometimes wrong, no matter what credentials they own.


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Harry Boy

Imagine what the Muslims would do to us if we had an "Army With No Guns"

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Harry Boy (Genius)

In The Absence Of Law And Order Society Will Surely Destroy Itself

PressCoverage

and occassionally Tom Brady throws a bad pass....

but the overwhelming majority of the time, especially with GENERALS who speak of firsthand knowledge, they are quite right...

Fogbuster

In this case, and given the anecdotal nature of your premise, I have to say its either McGovernitis or they are simply out to save their jobs. A chilling wind started when Rumsfeld was fired and some top brass in Iraq were also fired.


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All_Around_Brown

Eaton has been outspoken and he has a certain authenticity about him.

He might mean the neo-cons, as true conservatives like Buchanon have opposed this nation building and unilateralism for a long time.

Its only the crazy efftard religious zealots who have abandoned their own "values" to make the murder of hundreds of thousands of civilians palatable, exciting, and commonplace. The fact that the Republicans have been hijacked by these nutjobs have sealed the demise of the party.

Speaking of which, where are all the future theocrats> Seems all the GOP candidates have some "scary satanic" vices like cross dressing, adultery, and 'baby' killing.

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Real World

The loons are the #1 reason why the party lost it's grip, deservingly, in November. Sadly though, so long as there is only Coke or Pepsi to choose from, and the loonies on the left hold considerable say, the religious crazies in the right wing won't be enough to permenantly sink the ship. Remember, people claimed the same for the Dems, that they were finished, but how to retract the Washington Generals, since they are the only team against which the Harlem Globetrotter's play? Should the Dems not listen to their recently elected sensibles, and resort to permitting the loony left to run the roost, then it won't be long before the GOP runs a campaign with the headline that reads "hey, we're not them" with a finger pointing in the opposite direction. Thankfully, the more moderate, and fiscally conservative newbies in the Dem party are sticking to principle, and are not letting the loons run the show. I applaud them, and hope they stick to principles over party. Maybe the GOP would learn something if they do.

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"The most difficult subjects can be explained to the most slow-witted man if he has not formed any idea of them already; but the simplest thing cannot be made clear to the most intelligent man if he is firmly persuaded that he knows already, without a shadow of doubt, what is laid before him."
Leo Tolstoy, 1897

All_Around_Brown

I agree about the moderate Dems running the show now. But it also means we'll be stuck in Iraq for a generation or a draft, whichever comes first (my guess will be the latter).

The most interesting point Eaton makes though is how the military has been tasked with the entirety of foreign policy, and has been exhausted through its abuse- that the John Boltons have prevailed and because of that, we have virtually no diplomatic apparatus. That is finally changing, but is it too late to salvage damage done?

Time will tell.

As for finger in the wind pols, Romney and Clinton are the frontrunners. Guliani will be next as he tacks to offset the loss of support that comes as the nuts get a load of what a cross dressing "baby"-killing goofball he is. (oops..wrong thread)

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Real World

With every war comes the call of the military being destroyed. A draft will never happen. It's not needed, and any mention of it is strictly political BS, which those not spewing it already know.

As for the finger winders, we are in complete agreement. Rudi will have to pander some, that's politics. I can deal with some pandering as it's to be expected. The question comes with how much does he have to, or worse, how much will he? I really hate when they side step their principles to look good. Just say what you are, why, and what you're willing to compromise. I can live with that, or I can't. One way or the other, at least I know. The sooner these clowns learn that they cannot satisfy everyone, the better.

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"The most difficult subjects can be explained to the most slow-witted man if he has not formed any idea of them already; but the simplest thing cannot be made clear to the most intelligent man if he is firmly persuaded that he knows already, without a shadow of doubt, what is laid before him."
Leo Tolstoy, 1897