SOME of America’s most senior military commanders are prepared to resign if the White House orders a military strike against Iran, according to highly placed defence and intelligence sources.
Tension in the Gulf region has raised fears that an attack on Iran is becoming increasingly likely before President George Bush leaves office. The Sunday Times has learnt that up to five generals and admirals are willing to resign rather than approve what they consider would be a reckless attack.
“There are four or five generals and admirals we know of who would resign if Bush ordered an attack on Iran,” a source with close ties to British intelligence said. “There is simply no stomach for it in the Pentagon, and a lot of people question whether such an attack would be effective or even possible.”
A British defence source confirmed that there were deep misgivings inside the Pentagon about a military strike. “All the generals are perfectly clear that they don’t have the military capacity to take Iran on in any meaningful fashion. Nobody wants to do it and it would be a matter of conscience for them.
Two thoughts, not at all consistent:
- It's about %^&*@#! time! There are few spectacles less edifying than what we now know about the behavior of generals before the Iraq war. It's clear from reading Fiasco and Cobra II (and more) that these guys knew all along that this plan was fatally flawed. They shut up, perhaps in part out of instinctive loyalty, but also because they figured it would do more for the careeers to have the wrong war than to have no war at all.
- I've said it before, I'll say it again: we get to the point where the Generals start mouthing off about policy, we are in one Hell of a mess. For the moment, I'm content to blame the clowns that put us in this spot. But from this beginning, nothing good can follow.
2 comments:
Posted for my friend the New York Crank, who says the demons are not letting him post today:
"It's clear from reading Fiasco and Cobra II (and more) that these guys knew all along that this plan was fatally flawed. They shut up, perhaps in part out of instinctive loyalty, but also because they figured it would do more for the careeers to have the wrong war than to have no war at all."
Thus were it ever. An acquaintance who had an Army Intelligence assignment in Viet Nam told me about a U.S. colonel who found an abandoned VC tunnel containing a table and an empty penicillin bottle.
The colonel threw a hand grenade into the hole and then radioed back to headquarters, "We have just raided and destroyed an underground VC field hospital, including an operating theater, all equipment and all its medicinal supplies."
I mean, was he General material for Iraq, or what?
It's clear that from reading Fiasco that Cheney-Bush cleared out the generals unwilling to go along: they ended up with Franks and now Pete Pace who apparently will go along with anything. The others didn't 'resign' - they didn't have to. They became retired. Of course, these guys have pensions locked in and resigning won't cause too much pain - although they may not get many consulting appointments.
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