This is to follow up on my post of April 23, 2006, "Rumsfeld and the Generals." Since writing that post, I have read The Wall Street Journal's article on Major General John Batiste ("The Two-Star Rebel," May 13, 2006), which describes why Maj. Gen. Batiste retired and why he has criticized Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and called for his resignation.
In my earlier post, I said that I would have been more impressed with the generals’ criticism if they had promptly resigned and if their criticisms were more specific and less personal. While those comments still apply, they do not apply to Maj. Gen. Batiste. Maj. Gen. Batiste did resign because of his disagreements with Secretary Rumsfeld’s policies, and his criticisms were specific. While Maj. Gen. Batiste complained about Secretary Rumsfeld being arrogant, he also stated specific policies with which he disagreed.
I do not know if Maj. Gen. Batiste's complaints are right or wrong. Maj. Gen. Batiste argues Secretary Rumsfeld violated a fundamental rule of war by sending in too few troops to maintain security after the collapse of Saddam Hussein's regime. Would more troops have prevented the insurgency? I doubt it. It seems to me the insurgency would have started anyway. But maybe more troops would have prevented the insurgency from becoming as well-rooted. Maj. Gen. Batiste at least raises a legitimate question.
One should not assume, however, that Secretary Rumsfeld was wrong just because he did not accept the recommendations of his military advisers. There are far too many instances in history where conventional military wisdom was proved wrong to assume that generals are always right.
In any case, whether he is right or wrong, Maj. Gen. Batiste has raised some legitimate questions, and he has raised them in a proper way. Some people claim that criticisms of their civilian superiors by those in the military are inappropriate at any time, even after retirement, because they politicize the military and call into question the principle of civilian control of the military. I disagree. Just as generals are not always right, so their civilian superiors are sometimes wrong. Retired military personnel have information and points of view that are important for the public to know. Maj. Gen. Batiste served his country well in the Army; he is still serving his country well with the questions he is raising and the way he is raising them.
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