thedrifter
06-25-05, 05:49 AM
Sent to me by Mark aka The Fontman
Generals Who Admit 'Lack of Leadership' Should Be Fired
By Eilhys England Hackworth
and Roger Charles
News reports earlier this week carried one of the most shameful performances by a Marine general officer before a congressional committee since 1983, when then-Commandant P.X. Kelley tried to avoid any moral responsibility for not preventing the Marine barracks bombing in Beirut that killed 241 American warriors, including 220 Marines.
Kelley tried to tap-dance away from accountability by actually claiming he "was not in the chain of command." While true on a strictly operational basis, his disavowal did not play well on Capitol Hill and was widely believed to have cost him his chance to serve as the first Marine Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Now we have the Nyland-Catto duck-and-weave show, where Gen. William "Spider" Nyland, the assistant commandant of the Marine Corps, and his one-star lackey, Brig. Gen. William Catto, the chief of Marine Corps Systems Command, confessed with straight faces to the House Armed Services Committee on Tuesday that the lack of armored Humvees was due to "lack of leadership" - although they assured the committee that their same lousy leadership would somehow make sure the Humvees and military trucks that the Marines used in Iraq "would be adequately protected by December."
Their testimony dovetailed with the release of a damning Marine Corps Inspector General report this week - obtained from sources by SFTT - that reveals the overall deterioration of Marine ground equipment due to the high optempo in Iraq.
For a Marine general to admit such a crummy leadership failure costing the lives of Marines in combat and somehow keep his command is probably the most twisted Beltway stunt since Pentagon hypesters sucked The Washington Post into publishing their public relations spin on Pfc. Jessica Lynch fighting "to the last bullet."
If Nyland and Catto truly accepted personal responsibility for a failure of leadership which led to the deaths of their Marines, they had one, and only one, honorable course of action - to walk the plank and resign their commissions. A painful trip that would have meant kissing their generous pensions and juicy revolving-door perqs goodbye.
The silence from Marine Commandant Mike Hagee's office on this matter merely underlines that Nyland and Catto were playing the "take responsibility" ploy with his approval - and a gullible news media once again bought into a Pentagon con that let the perps prevail.
Hagee - who should have been taking responsibility and sitting at the table alongside Nyland and Catto - was instead running around presenting coins to the grieving parents of a Marine being buried at Arlington National Cemetery and a Marine being readied for surgery at Bethesda National Naval Medical Center. Certainly, he had the power to have given these folks something even more meaningful along with the coins - new and competent commanders with the right stuff to prevent other needless casualties.
By allowing these two admitted screw-ups to remain in uniform, Hagee sends the message to all Marines: getting your brother and sister warriors killed or maimed due to leadership failure can be overlooked if you're a Perfumed Prince.
For his passive endorsement of his officers' proclaimed negligence - negligence with lethal consequences - Hagee should be fired.
Then there's the silence from the office of SecDef Donald Rumsfeld.
How many more times will Rumsfeld's minions - our uniformed leaders in today's Defense Department - traipse up to Capitol Hill to offer yet one more tired-ass round of mea culpas for the lack of up-armored Humvees?
The next time Rumsfeld stands at the lectern in the Pentagon Press Room and carries on about how deeply he cares about the loss to life and limb among our nation's fighters, maybe one reporter will stand tall and ask, "Mr. Secretary, how do you square your profession of compassion with your failure - two years into the post-war phase - to provide the best-available level of protection to our troops who are most exposed to death and destruction on Iraqi roads?"
As with Hagee, Rumsfeld also should be fired for his conspicuous-by-his-silence endorsement of sorry leaders whose incompetence continues to get our fighters killed, crippled and blinded.
But don't hold your breath. Rumsfeld, Hagee, Nyland and Catto will slug on. And vehicles without adequate and available armor will continue to be torn up by IEDs. And crocodile tears will continue to be shed by Perfumed Princes during photo opportunities at Arlington, Bethesda and Walter Reed.
And more American kids will pay in blood for the uncaring incompetence of Rumsfeld & Co.
Eilhys England Hackworth is Chairman and CEO of Soldiers For The Truth. Roger Charles is President of SFTT. Charles can be reached at Sfttpres@aol.com.
Ellie
Generals Who Admit 'Lack of Leadership' Should Be Fired
By Eilhys England Hackworth
and Roger Charles
News reports earlier this week carried one of the most shameful performances by a Marine general officer before a congressional committee since 1983, when then-Commandant P.X. Kelley tried to avoid any moral responsibility for not preventing the Marine barracks bombing in Beirut that killed 241 American warriors, including 220 Marines.
Kelley tried to tap-dance away from accountability by actually claiming he "was not in the chain of command." While true on a strictly operational basis, his disavowal did not play well on Capitol Hill and was widely believed to have cost him his chance to serve as the first Marine Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Now we have the Nyland-Catto duck-and-weave show, where Gen. William "Spider" Nyland, the assistant commandant of the Marine Corps, and his one-star lackey, Brig. Gen. William Catto, the chief of Marine Corps Systems Command, confessed with straight faces to the House Armed Services Committee on Tuesday that the lack of armored Humvees was due to "lack of leadership" - although they assured the committee that their same lousy leadership would somehow make sure the Humvees and military trucks that the Marines used in Iraq "would be adequately protected by December."
Their testimony dovetailed with the release of a damning Marine Corps Inspector General report this week - obtained from sources by SFTT - that reveals the overall deterioration of Marine ground equipment due to the high optempo in Iraq.
For a Marine general to admit such a crummy leadership failure costing the lives of Marines in combat and somehow keep his command is probably the most twisted Beltway stunt since Pentagon hypesters sucked The Washington Post into publishing their public relations spin on Pfc. Jessica Lynch fighting "to the last bullet."
If Nyland and Catto truly accepted personal responsibility for a failure of leadership which led to the deaths of their Marines, they had one, and only one, honorable course of action - to walk the plank and resign their commissions. A painful trip that would have meant kissing their generous pensions and juicy revolving-door perqs goodbye.
The silence from Marine Commandant Mike Hagee's office on this matter merely underlines that Nyland and Catto were playing the "take responsibility" ploy with his approval - and a gullible news media once again bought into a Pentagon con that let the perps prevail.
Hagee - who should have been taking responsibility and sitting at the table alongside Nyland and Catto - was instead running around presenting coins to the grieving parents of a Marine being buried at Arlington National Cemetery and a Marine being readied for surgery at Bethesda National Naval Medical Center. Certainly, he had the power to have given these folks something even more meaningful along with the coins - new and competent commanders with the right stuff to prevent other needless casualties.
By allowing these two admitted screw-ups to remain in uniform, Hagee sends the message to all Marines: getting your brother and sister warriors killed or maimed due to leadership failure can be overlooked if you're a Perfumed Prince.
For his passive endorsement of his officers' proclaimed negligence - negligence with lethal consequences - Hagee should be fired.
Then there's the silence from the office of SecDef Donald Rumsfeld.
How many more times will Rumsfeld's minions - our uniformed leaders in today's Defense Department - traipse up to Capitol Hill to offer yet one more tired-ass round of mea culpas for the lack of up-armored Humvees?
The next time Rumsfeld stands at the lectern in the Pentagon Press Room and carries on about how deeply he cares about the loss to life and limb among our nation's fighters, maybe one reporter will stand tall and ask, "Mr. Secretary, how do you square your profession of compassion with your failure - two years into the post-war phase - to provide the best-available level of protection to our troops who are most exposed to death and destruction on Iraqi roads?"
As with Hagee, Rumsfeld also should be fired for his conspicuous-by-his-silence endorsement of sorry leaders whose incompetence continues to get our fighters killed, crippled and blinded.
But don't hold your breath. Rumsfeld, Hagee, Nyland and Catto will slug on. And vehicles without adequate and available armor will continue to be torn up by IEDs. And crocodile tears will continue to be shed by Perfumed Princes during photo opportunities at Arlington, Bethesda and Walter Reed.
And more American kids will pay in blood for the uncaring incompetence of Rumsfeld & Co.
Eilhys England Hackworth is Chairman and CEO of Soldiers For The Truth. Roger Charles is President of SFTT. Charles can be reached at Sfttpres@aol.com.
Ellie