better to be sycophantic than psychopathic.

My critique of General Grievous (oops--I mean “Petraeus") would not be that he is stupid. I am sure that, were he to take an IQ test, he would come out above average.

I also would not criticize his motives, as I have no way of knowing them. There are rumors that he has political aspirations, but I don’t think they are more than rumors.

My criticism begins with his being, in the words of Admiral Fallon, an “ass-kissing little chickenshit.” That is, he has gotten his numerous promotions not only through his abilities to carry out difficult assignments, but also his ability to toady up to his superiors.

A toady can act very intelligently, within the box his superiors give him. Thus, Grievous has done as good a job as is possible with the “splurge.” As a toady, he does not question the overall wisdom of waging an unprovoked, aggressive war against a destitute, third-world country. He just follows orders, just like his toady predecessors in the Third Reich. They, too--within the limits laid out to them by their superiors--were brilliant; actually, they were much more brilliant than General Grievous. But they refused to look at the larger picture. Thus we had the obscene spectacle of Rommel (for example), possibly one of the most brilliant tactical field generals ever, serving Hitler.

In the end, Rommel redeemed his soul by taking part in the plot to kill Hitler. A truly brilliant man has a hard time serving a monster for very long. The question is, will Grievous ever raise his head and speak out loudly against our insane and immoral war and occupation of Iraq?

One can hope....

Hey now, are you going to make a sweeping generalization of all our servicemen and women? Would you like to throw Jews, Republicans, Hispanics, Muslims and School Teachers under your bus as well?

Progressive Views are Inclusive Views. Are you going to lead by example, or fall into the trap of Corporate Class Warfare?

A lot of the “Left” and Progressive circles need to kick out these idiots who view all of the military as either cheap fodder for their cause or baby-killers. These kinds of false-progressive rabble-rousers feign concern for “our troops” when it benefits their platform and demonize them when its convenient to their sympathizers.

We are a sovereign nation, and every country on Earth has some form of military defense (unless there is something I’m not aware of). Our military branches do serve a purpose beyond just killing people and maintaining peace abroad. It’s a structure system for all citizens, who should enlist when corporate wars have been eliminated from the picture, which helps many indigent and troubled youths gain focus and become productively integrated to our society.

Sure, we can all wish more Winter Soldiers banged on the doors of Congress. The argument can be made about Patraeus, or any other serviceman, has the ability to discredit Bush… but do we need anyone else to discredit this liar? NO! Anyone who isn’t part of the Bush-NeoCon doctrine knows the illegitimacy of the OCCUPATION of Iraq, and it’s true form as a way for War Profiteers to line their pocketbooks.

Leave our military institutions out of the political argument. It’s ineffective, inappropriate and indignant. Doesn’t matter what side you’re fighting for.

I’m confused - you believe these other things are legitimate issues or not?