Thursday, November 15, 2012

MILITARY - Officers Failing to Live Up to High Expectations

"What Happens When U.S. Military Leaders Fail to Live Up to High Expectations" PBS Newshour 11/14/2012

Excerpt

SUMMARY: Americans hold U.S. military officers to a high ethical standard and propriety. Judy Woodruff talks to Richard Kohn of the University of North Carolina and retired Col. Andrew Bacevich on whether these standards are reasonable and why the U.S. is fascinated by the recent scandals of Generals like David Petraeus and John Allen.

JUDY WOODRUFF (Newshour): And we turn back to one of the topics raised in President Obama's news conference today, the investigation of former CIA Director David Petraeus. The former military leader's resignation after admitting to an extramarital affair raises questions about the standards to which Americans hold U.S. officials and military officers.

We take a look at that with two who follow civilian-military relations closely. Richard Kohn is professor emeritus of history at the University of North Carolina. During the 1980s, he was the chief historian for the U.S. Air Force.

And retired Colonel Andrew Bacevich is a research fellow at Notre Dame's Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies.


COMMENT: COL. Bacevich's comment on, "performance of senior American military leaders over the past 10 years of war, it seems to me that it's been rather disappointing." is very short sighted and shows old-school thinking.

These recent wars are against religiously-based insurgencies and CANNOT be won militarily. It is NOT the fault of our military leadership, which does the best it can under the circumstances.

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