September 24, 2008
My friend Mac Owens is a former Marine infantry platoon leader in Vietnam and current professor at the Naval War College, where he is writing a history of American civil-military relations. He addresses Bob Woodward's new book on the Bush administration in "Our generals almost cost us Iraq" in today's Wall Street Journal. Mac concludes: Although the conventional narrative about the Iraq war is wrong, its persistence has contributed to the most serious crisis in civil-military relations since the Civil War. According to Mr. Woodward's account, the uniformed military not only opposed the surge, insisting that their advice be followed; it then subsequently worked to undermine the president once he decided on another strategy.Mac is the first commenter on Woodward's book (of whom I am aware, anyway) to find the scandal hiding in plain sight, unnoticed by Woodward himself. Mac's column demands attention in its entirety, but his conclusion warrants special attention, as does the question of the veracity of Woodward's account on which the last paragraph hangs. To comment on this post, go here. |