One Faithful General

Cal Thomas | Syndicated columnist | Published: May 03, 2006

One Faithful General

May 5, 2006

If you’ve been paying attention, you’ve heard about five retired generals who have criticized Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld over the war and peace efforts in Iraq. Their comments were widely disseminated.

Now comes another retired general, Barry McCaffrey, who says the new Iraqi army is “real, growing and willing to fight,” but up to five more years are needed before it can wage war without U.S. assistance. For a nation that was under Saddam Hussein’s boot for three decades, that’s not a bad projection.

In a seven-page memo for his colleagues at the U.S. Military Academy, McCaffery also said “there is a rapidly growing animosity” among U.S. troops toward the press. In an interview with the Washington Times, McCaffery said “it took my generation 20 years to get over Vietnam, the sense that the press had been against us as soldiers.”

Remember when the press started out as gung-ho on this war? Then they realized President Bush and the Republicans might benefit, so they turned against it. When you hear other generals criticize, keep in mind Barry McCaffrey. And he’s not the only one, but don’t look to find them in the mainstream media.


Cal Thomas is a nationally syndicated columnist based in Washington, D.C.

 

 

One Faithful General