Wise Generals Speak Out

I am not at all a frequent viewer of C-SPAN, but last night while "flipping" through the channels to watch something other than some brainless variant of a reality show, I stopped on C-SPAN because it was showing yesterday's testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, by three retired Army general officers, each of whom I regard highly, and one of whom I served alongside as a brigade commander. In sum, they each agreed that a major drawdown of U.S. forces in Iraq is inevitable sooner than later, mainly because the Army and Marine Corps can't sustain the present operations tempo much longer without doing serious long term damage to the force, and because any permanent resolution of civil and sectarian unrest in Iraq can only be achieved by the Iraq Army itself, assuming it is capable of doing so. MG (Ret) Bob Scales said, “The only point of contention is how precipitous will be the withdrawal and whether the schedule of withdrawal should be a matter of administration policy.” Given that Scales is a past commandant of the Army War College, when he speaks, I listen. Other general officers who voiced their opinions, mostly agreeing with each other, were GEN Barry McCaffrey and LTG Bill Odom. McCaffrey worked after retirement in the Clinton administration, and Odom served as President Reagan's director of the National Security Agency, so from a "political" standpoint there is a fair balance, although I don't believe either of them has any specific ties today to either party in relation to their predictions about the situation in Iraq. I believe all three generals are simply very concerned about the future of our Army, and the nation's ability to support contingency operations other than in Iraq. I was glued to the TV, and was not only impressed by what those testifying had to say, but was also encouraged by the questions asked by the committee members, democrat and republican. I learned much, but none of it made me feel that good about what lies ahead for the United States and our Army.