Breaking Ranks article in WashPost re Larry Wilkerson

[EVDebs]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/01/18/AR2006011802607.html

Speak out and you get retribution; all the while the Army is being 'badly damaged'.

This article should be required reading for DUers !

[applegrove]

1. There are a lot of Mr. Smiths in and out of Washington. He is one.

[EVDebs]

2. But he was once a loyal Republican. One who loves his Army.

Wilkerson is seeing loyalty to Bush causing much harm not only to the nation but to damage to the Army that he also loves (and still serves in his heart of hearts).

The ongoing tradgedy requires DUers to seek out former R's and get their stories made public.

[applegrove]

3. Oh - I think it is starting. Point was it will take lots and lots of

little guys.

[stillcool]

4. I didn't see Mr. Smith anywhere in that article...

but, an excellent article....thanks for the link. The military-career person has a lot more to lose when exposing this administration than the politicians. What's happening is such a disgrace, no matter which angle you look from. Hopefully, some of his honesty will rub off on his colleagues.

[applegrove]

6. Never saw the Movie. I just mean this man is small in the power-structure

of Washington. And he is speaking truth to power. May there be many more like him.

[Fridays Child]

5. I just love this doublespeak from Rumsfeld...

"Interviewed by CNN in November, Rumsfeld termed the suggestion of a cabal "ridiculous" and said of Wilkerson, "In terms of having firsthand information, I just can't imagine that he does."

This is like saying, "Of course, we aren't secretive! Besides, how would Wilkerson know? We never told him anything."

:eyes:

[enough]

7. A long article, well worth reading.

one snip>

Wilkerson calls Bush an unsophisticated leader who has been easily swayed by "messianic" neoconservatives and power-hungry, secretive schemers in the administration. In a landmark speech in October, Wilkerson said: "What I saw was a cabal between the vice president of the United States, Richard Cheney, and the secretary of defense, Donald Rumsfeld, on critical issues that made decisions that the bureaucracy did not know were being made."

He is particularly appalled by U.S. treatment of enemy detainees, counting at least 100 deaths in custody during the course of the war on terrorism -- 27 of them ruled homicides. "Murder is torture," he says. "It's not torture lite."

As for the invasion of Iraq? A blunder of historic proportions, he believes.

"This is really a very inept administration," says Wilkerson, who has credentials not only as an insider in the Bush I, Clinton and Bush II presidencies but also as a former professor at two of the nation's war colleges. "As a teacher who's studied every administration since 1945, I think this is probably the worst ineptitude in governance, decision-making and leadership I've seen in 50-plus years. You've got to go back and think about that. That includes the Bay of Pigs, that includes -- oh my God, Vietnam. That includes Iran-contra, Watergate."

Such a critique, coming from a man who was long thought to speak for Powell, is seismic in Washington power circles. Some observers used to regard Powell and Wilkerson as so close that they enjoyed a "mind meld," but now Powell distances himself from the pronouncements of his former aide.

snip>


much more

[Fridays Child]

8. Wilkerson won't cash in by becoming a "cable news pundit-for-hire?"

PLEASE! CASH IN! If the media will let you on the air, it's your duty to do it. Give the money away, if that's what bothers you but just get out there and speak the truth!