Steve Gilliard on the ex-generals' revolt

Steve Gilliard from his News Blog:

This is not as simple as good guys and bad guys. ... This is about politics, military politics, but politics all the same.

What we are watching is like an iceberg, the very top are the retired officers speaking for the Army's bureaucracy. Having three combat commanders, including Paul Eaton, the former chief of the infantry branch, denounce Rumsfeld, is a big deal. These guys paid the price for Rummy's snowflakes. But there is a very big sea of discontent below them and its families, EM's, NCO's and Officers as well. Make no mistake, the Army, and the Marines, are sick of Rummy. ...

The main game here is to save the Army, and place the failure on the civilian leadership.These people are not anti-war per se, but they are anti-destroy the Army , and that is what will happen [if the US stays in Iraq]. The idea isn't just to replace Rummy, but get someone they can talk to, like Lieberman. (my emphasis)

But he's perhaps over-optimistic on this thought, though I hope not:

Once Rummy is gone, the generals will tell the new SecDef the truth, and then hope to reach the President so they can get the Army out. A new Sec Def, not invested in the Iraq War as his idea, might understand when the generals tell him we've lost. Because that is what they told Jack Murtha.

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