Rumsfeld and the R's "stamping out dissent...?" Who knew...?

i've spoken with a number of both active duty and retired military over the past three years and, to a man, they despise rumsfeld and believe he's destroying the u.s. armed forces... but they also acknowledge that speaking out, even if you're retired, is tantamount to painting a target on your back in the current climate of repression of open debate...

"I feel I'm working for a bunch of politicians," said one outstanding officer of the generals and admirals he works for. "Only in their not-for-attribution speeches at the war colleges they say they need more troops for Iraq. Gen. Zinni is my hero." Retired Marine Gen. Anthony Zinni -- former commander of U. S. Central Command, which includes Iraq -- has spoken out publicly about the folly of invading and occupying Iraq.

[...]

Retired Army Maj. Gen. Paul D. Eaton recently wrote in The New York Times that "in the five years Mr. Rumsfeld has presided over the Pentagon I have seen a climate of groupthink become dominant and a growing reluctance by experienced military men and civilians to challenge the notions of the senior leadership."

[...]

Congress owes it to itself and the country to call in the chiefs and ask them point blank if they are really speaking their minds on Iraq and other life-and-death issues.

And if not, why not?

a reluctance to challenge is heavily linked to the instinct for survival...

(thanks to think progress...)

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