I'm not sure you take Glenn's point. When I was an Army officer, I was loyal to my oath to support and defend the constitution of the United States. In no way would that make me want to be spokesman for some political point the pentagon or any higher up would want to put out. I will admit that during my time in the military I would have conflicts with what I came to think of as the "politicals"--whether of the left or the right--by qua being an Army officer I viewed them as being confused or venal. The retired officers who agreed to carry the political water in the ways described dishonered their service. I was also called on quite a few occasions a naive idealist, but that is another matter. I take oaths seriously.

"by qua" becomes "but qua" !

He's soused? He probably can't read from blurred gin visions. He hallucinating from a defunct failing liver. He passed out with a Iranian cigar dangling from his stiffened jaw. He probably attending the Chaplain prayer breakfast. He's no saint.

Boylan and crew put chicken wings in the penitent plate.

He's probably counting his wad of stolen one-hundred dollar bills.

I just left Chris Floyd's site about the military snipers. He's accurate.

Sad. The PTSD gathers in the V.A. have some of the "wildest Trauma cases"...

I've decided listening in PTSD groups, and entering into a facilitator role is Not my gig.

The returning Iraq/Afghanistan vet is real PTSD "bonkers"... Their life will probably be short.

A remembrance :

When I worked in the government Vet Center Program... A former sniper would shoplift Aqua Velva aftershave lotion. The alcohol content in cool, fresh, blue Aqua Velva gave the devastated "man" (who felt betrayed and a victim. He was a Souther boy reared in great poverty. The Army was a out. The Army gave him mashed potatoes and gravy,plus fried eggs and Florida orange juice. The Army guaranteed three meals per day and a Gaud Conduct Trinket. The military was a way out`ta drudgery) a buzz. He was pathetic. I admit. He made the military a career, and the military help ruin him forever.

The Vt Center office always smelled so strange after he wandered in to speak to me.... Who uses that and Who uses deodorant? Who wears what? I would rather smell a black and white skunk or sleuth. Maybe Boylan has crammed his ears full of peanut butter, bread, and margarin? Boylan?

I'm back to being 4-year old-sat.

I'll visit neighbors and bring back some goat milk. It's more fun.

Sorry, if I sound cynical, but I'm guessing we will see a shift in tone and substance in your articles. I think we'll find that you will not be that different from these generals you bemoan in regards to pushing a particular angle, because otherwise it would not be in your best economic interest to do so.

I would suggest that you take a stroll through the archives and pay careful attention to what has been said about Jay Rockefeller, Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi, Steny Hoyer and, of course, Joe Lieberman. I won't presume to speak for Glenn, but I hang out at UT because it is a place dedicated to pursuit of truth and equal application the law for everyone.

As to the economic interest, although Glenn is highly popular in the blogosphere, I doubt the revenue from Glenn's books and his work at Salon come within a tenth of what he would be earning today had he stayed with his New York law firm. I can't find a basis for his work here being about the money. Can you?

didn't see your post before I posted mine (on taking the oath). You said it really well: so I could have said: What she said.

You seem to claim that because Dems or Liberals who are passionate about thier cause--are somehow untrustworthy becaue of it..

You really don't get the ruse by your own party do ya?

By faking somehting like HAVING facts or KNOWING anything about strategy--you and other GOP viewers just completely have let the outcome of those little details like NO wmd, no decrease in violence due to surge-NO "Mission Accomplished", Blackwater killing civilians, torture, detaining men and kids with NO TRIALS...

But it's those damn liberals who want to raise their voice about the facts---that-TO YOU-just don't come off as believable..

As long as the GOP can talk the talk(water carriers)-but not walk the walk(like winning a war, making our country safer, give a fair deal to the Iraqis for oil, quit killing innocent iraqis)--you're fine with that....

UN-FRiGGIN Believable.

Why don't don't you and other GOPers who DON'T WALK the WALK like the over 4,000 men & women who've died thus far-with no end in sight because of the GOP screwup that is this war--get a dose of reality..

And No, Shooter- guns aren't more important than a human life-no matter what the NRA or the Pentagon spin artists say.

Because of Iraq, there have to be many future military leaders who have experienced first hand the horrors of blindly following civilians into unnecessary wars, who will finally learn, unlike those who experienced Vietnam, that when your strategy and mission are seriously flawed, you must not allow a war to happen.

Why would the Iraq experience teach a different or longer lasting lesson than the Vietnam one?

The best predictor of future behavior is past behavior.

Seriously, the Powell Doctrine was forgotten by everyone, but most especially by Colin Powell, as soon as it became the slightest impediment to a war the government wanted. Powell was the damn cheerleader for this war which violated every damn point of the doctrine he formulated and that was named after him.

It's pellucidly clear that the vast majority of the military desperately wanted to go to war in Iraq and ignored the fact that both Cheney and Schwartzkopf both accurately predicted the current quagmire very shortly after Gulf War I.

Human nature has not changed in tens of thousands of years and will not change in the next fifty.

Go and read Twain's _War Prayer_ and tell me that anything significant has changed since that piece was written, that the runup to the the Iraq war was different that what Twain expounded upon.

http://www.warprayer.org/

Then go and read Kipling's _Tommy_ and tell me that anything has significantly changed since that one was written either.

http://www.poetryloverspage.com/poets/kipling/tommy.html