Tuesday, March 6, 2018

Should US Generals Denounce War ???

According to this op-ed piece, our generals and admirals should denounce our forever wars:

https://original.antiwar.com/Danny_Sjursen/2018/03/05/generals-failing-soldiers-america/

I never attended West Point, but I think this statement by General of the Army Douglas MacArthur may sum up what used to be taught there:

Let civilian voices argue the merits or demerits of our processes of government; whether our strength is being sapped by deficit financing, indulged in too long, by federal paternalism grown too mighty, by power groups grown too arrogant, by politics grown too corrupt, by crime grown too rampant, by morals grown too low, by taxes grown too high, by extremists grown too violent; whether our personal liberties are as thorough and complete as they should be. These great national problems are not for your professional participation or military solution. Your guidepost stands out like a ten-fold beacon in the night: Duty, Honor, Country.

You are the leaven which binds together the entire fabric of our national system of defense. From your ranks come the great captains who hold the nation's destiny in their hands the moment the war tocsin sounds. The Long Gray Line has never failed us. Were you to do so, a million ghosts in olive drab, in brown khaki, in blue and gray, would rise from their white crosses thundering those magic words: Duty, Honor, Country.

This does not mean that you are war mongers.

On the contrary, the soldier, above all other people, prays for peace, for he must suffer and bear the deepest wounds and scars of war.

But always in our ears ring the ominous words of Plato, that wisest of all philosophers: "Only the dead have seen the end of war."

I agree that our generals and admirals have a responsibility to speak up about war. However, if they start to go against what their civilian leaders order them to do, they will lose the ability to be "the leaven which binds together the entire fabric of our national system of defense". Do we want an effective fighting force, or do we want dissension in the ranks? That is not an easy choice to make.

What bothers me the most is the fact that the only "voice" our generals and admirals seem to have speaks for the dogs of war ... and appears to be voiced in return for money paid to retired officers who appear on CNN and other MSM outlets to shill for yet more bloodshed.

Where is the balance? Where is the voice of those soldiers who "above all other people" pray for peace? We hear it from the grunts, but not from the upper ranks. Why not? Are they placing personal gain above national interest?

That is the great question.

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