Outgoing chairman of the joint chiefs, Gen. Pace and his appalling lack of foresight and unchanged hindsight (see AP story below) exemplifies how much damage a family like the Kagans and his neoconites can wreak on our military.

When I left USCENTCOM in 1986, I was proud of the planning we were doing and the emphasis we put on understanding the cultures in our unified command area of responsibility. Our first CINC was Gen. Bob Kingston who was sitting several rows above Anwar Sadat the day he was assassinated, but close enough for his aide to be injured. Gen. Kingston would have told anyone to go to helI if he didn’t agree with an ill prepared plan and concept no matter who was giving the orders. I don’t whether he is still alive, but if he is, he must be as saddened as I am about an officer like Gen. Pace in such an important position, exhibiting such poor planning and inability to have any serious regrets about sending so many people to their deaths.

There is a pattern to how generals like Powell, Petraeus and Pace rise to the top and it is because they kiss ass and suck up and worry more about personal ambition and protecting their ass than they do about the troops. They flourish during times that our top civilian leadership is ripe with insecurities and refuses to listen to any opposing views. Generals like Shinseki have to retire and ones like generals Meyers and Pace salute proudly and proclaim three bags full as they have done throughout their careers.

The Kagans and Kristols and all those other charlatans that Glenn has exposed think and act the same way. They attract each other like flies to honey and huddle together making so much “me too” noise that they are oblivious to outsiders who know the honey is foul and the Queen is sick. They think they have the finest hive in existence without examining any other hives to see if that thinking has any validity and only listen to the scouts they send out who confirm their thinking.

Top general acknowledges Iraq mistakes

By LOLITA C. BALDOR, Associated Press Writer Sat Sep 15, 5:51 AM ET

WASHINGTON - The U.S. military's top general acknowledged Friday that he made mistakes in his early Iraq war strategy but said he still has no doubt that invading the country was the right decision.

Marine Gen. Peter Pace, retiring chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and one of the war's military architects, said he overestimated the ability of the Iraqi army to hold together after the invasion, and as a result underestimated the number of U.S. troops that would eventually be needed to fight the war.

"One of the mistakes I made in my assumptions going in was that the Iraqi people and the Iraqi army would welcome liberation, that the Iraqi army, given the opportunity, would stand together for the Iraqi people and be available to them to help serve the new nation," said Pace, who will leave the chairman's job on Oct. 1. "If I knew that the Iraqi army was not going to be available, then I probably would have made a different recommendation about the total size force going in."

In retrospect, he said, "you say you wish you knew, but you didn't know on the way in."

Believing that the Iraqi army could be rebuilt, retrained and equipped by the end of 2006, Pace said that he did not — and never would think to — recommend in early 2006 that the size of the U.S. Army and Marine Corps be expanded.

Further, he said, he has not wavered in his belief that the U.S. made the right call by invading Iraq.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070915/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/pace_iraq_mistakes;_ylt=Ap1AWHXvtuNdHPji_WcwA5lI2ocA

The story below shows the extent of the total nonsense that can befall our proud military when military leaders do not have the courage to stand up and be counted and fall pray to its not my fault because I have to follow orders, ala Nazi Germany. Admiral Fallon may be the kind of true courageous, independent leader that won’t succumb to these guys according to some of the things I have read about him such as the way he first greeted Betrayus, however, that remains to be seen. We fervently need a true military leader to help us to begin to find our way out of this morass and keep Jim Webb from losing his son.

U.S. probes banned briefs found at Gitmo

By BEN FOX, Associated Press Writer 9-14-07 10:39 PM EST

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico - Guards at the Guantanamo Bay prison camp found two prisoners sporting unauthorized underwear, and the U.S. military is investigating to determine how they got the contraband.

Both prisoners were caught wearing Under Armour briefs and one also had on a Speedo bathing suit, items the military said were not issued by Guantanamo personnel or sent through the regular mail, according to a Defense Department letter obtained Friday by The Associated Press.

Army Lt. Col. Ed Bush, a spokesman at the jail holding some 340 men on suspicion of terrorism or links to al-Qaida and the Taliban, said more was involved than just an uproar over skivvies.

He said the appearance of contraband raised serious concerns about the potential for smuggling other items that could be used by detainees to harm themselves or staff.

"There is no room for error when working in a dangerous environment, and constant vigilance is of the utmost importance," Bush said.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070915/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/guantanamo_contraband_underwear