Letters to the Editor
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Encouragement
I found myself wondering how these young men got the courage to write their searing Op-Ed, at a time when Petraeus was giving the media and Congress members personal tours of Baghdad's Green Zone, serving lobster tortellini and asparagus soup, and spinning his story of progress.
Well it certainly took courage, there's no doubt of that, but it may help answer Walsh's question to note that you didn't have to be an NCO to think poorly of Petraeus. Admiral Fallon called the good general an "ass-kissing little chickenshit" to his face. Fallon sets military policy for the entire US Central Command, so (one might conclude) when he calls Petraeus "chickenshit," it's official.
I imagine the NYT Seven would have written their letter anyway, but I have to think that it was encouraging to them to know that so many of their siblings-in-arms, and such high-ranking ones, were with them.