Letter: Free speech extends to former generals, too

Saturday, April 22, 2006 | 7:27 a.m.

I respectfully disagree with J.L. Kane's April 19 letter, "Generals out of line to ask Rumsfeld to resign." Although I strongly agree that the military is subject to the control of the civilian authority, I also believe that the civilian authority has been grossly negligent in conducting the war in Iraq.

These generals had been "put on notice" that any objections to how the war would be conducted would not be welcome by the Bush administration when on Aug. 1, 2003, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld replaced Gen. Eric Shinseki as Army Chief of Staff after Shinseki questioned the cakewalk scenario and told Congress that we would need several hundred thousand soldiers in Iraq.

Freedom of speech is the backbone of America. The fact that these highly regarded former military men would so boldly criticize their former boss is an indication of how fed up our military is with the inept and incompetent Bush administration's inability to control the Iraqi situation.

Had Rumsfeld taken the military's advice for more troops to "keep the peace" after the overthrow of Saddam Hussein, we would possibly now have 30,000 troops in Iraq quietly overseeing a growing democracy in a peaceful Iraq.

Phil Ventura, Las Vegas

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