"I've got my own 'Most Wanted' list. The aces in my deck are Paul Bremer, Donald Rumsfeld, George Bush and Paul Wolfowitz."
-- A left-wing wacko? No, a U.S. Army sergeant in Iraq, quoted by ABC News
Don't ask, don't tell, keep your fucking mouth shut
I found this short article from the Associated Press interesting:
WASHINGTON - The Army is considering whether to punish soldiers in Iraq who griped about conditions there to a television reporter, a Pentagon spokeswoman said Friday.
Some soldiers from the 3rd Infantry Division complained to ABC-TV this week after their units were told they would be leaving Iraq soon, then had their homecoming postponed. One called for the resignation of Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld.
Criticism of superior officers is a breach of military rules. The Army will determine whether any soldier will be charged with breaking those rules, said Pentagon spokeswoman Chief Petty Officer Diane Perry.
On Wednesday, the commander of U.S. forces in Iraq said the soldiers' comments show the frustration of troops who are ready to go home.
"Every now and then we've got to look at our young people and understand why they said what they said, and then do something about it," said Gen. John Abizaid, head of U.S. Central Command.
He said it was up to the soldiers' direct commanders to decide if they should be punished.
"None of us that wear this uniform are free to say anything disparaging about the secretary of defense, or the president of the United States," he added.
I don't have a problem with military rules that genuinely are meant to keep military personnel safe. "Loose lips sink ships" seems sound to me. But this rule -- "criticism of superior officers is a breach of military rules" -- isn't about keeping our troops safe, although that's what military leaders would claim. It's about face-saving for the stupid white men in charge of the military who make the consistently shitty decisions (such as the Bush regime's decision to "pre-emptively" invade Iraq based upon falsified information) for which they will never have to die.
If the stupid white men who are getting our young men and women slaughtered in wars that are meant only to expand the American capitalistic empire never have to listen to criticism -- if negative feedback is prohibited -- then how in the hell are they ever going to make better decisions? They insulate themselves in their shitty decision making. Closed systems promote only dysfunction and deterioration.
I hope that our military personnel continue to be critical of the Bush regime warhawks who so easily send them off to war on the American taxpayers' tab. How easy it is for a "President" Bush or a Donald Rumsfeld or a Paul Wolfowitz to send largely naive, trusting, idealistic young men and women off to war and stick the average hardworking American taxpayer with the multi-billion dollar tab. It's not their lives or their money at stake. Their precious rich white asses are not going to get shot at or bombed or captured as a POW and their capitalistic interests (Halliburton, Bechtel, WorldCom, etc., etc.) are going to be expanded thanks to the American taxpayer.
Our military personnel should be allowed to speak. They're the ones who are getting killed while Bush and his cronies laugh all the way to the bank.
2:52:16 PM 
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