A GENERAL’S LOOK AT BUSH, RUMSFELD, AND THE WORLD….Sean-Paul Kelley of The Agonist has a family friend who’s a general in the Air Force, and he persuaded him to do a short (anonymous) interview for his blog. Here’s what he has to say about the Bush administration’s treatment of the military:
Sean-Paul Kelley: “Ok, so in summary what you are telling me is that the brass doesn’t like Rumsfeld and the idea behind Iraq, that you guys feel Korea is much more urgent from a proliferation standpoint and that life in the Pentagon isn’t real rosy under an Administration that was supposed to be ‘military’ friendly? Does that sum it up about right?”
General Officer: “Sure does. Military friendly? That’s a joke. Look at how they are treating our veterans. This makes me sick. It’s galling. It’s unconscionable. But the grunts think these guys are the greatest. The politicians see us as a means to an end. Of course, that is their prerogative. We ARE a means to an end, in a certain twisted sense. That’s the role I’ve chosen for my life. I just think this ‘end’ isn’t so important when there is another huge problem out there. We should be much more concerned about Asia. Much. They are proliferating. They are doing all those things we say we fear Hussein is doing. And we still have time to remedy the situation in Asia.”
SPK: “Wow. You sound angry.”
GO: “I am angry. The whole veterans thing is a slap in the face to us. And frankly I can’t understand why they weren’t called to account for it. I won’t tell you what I think of their foreign policy. But you can imagine for yourself.”
The entire interview is an interesting perspective from a senior officer. Part 1 is here, and Part 2 is here.
