[Collectively, say military historians, war correspondents and retired senior officers, the country seems to have concluded that war heroes pack a political punch that requires caution. They have become not just symbols of bravery but also reminders of the war's thorniest questions.] No one wants to call the attention of the public to bloodletting and heroism and the horrifying character of combat, ... What situation can be imagined that would promote the war and not remind people of its ambivalence? |
[The criticism] does undermine civilian control. It is an attempt to change policy - to go over the heads of the civilian leaders to the president. |
I don't see any malicious political intent here ? just myopia and shortsightedness. |
I must admit that I'm quite ignorant about that. |
I think it flatly is a bad thing. |
I think it flatly is a bad thing. How can you prosecute a war if the military and civilians don't trust each other? |
If they go out and attack the policy after leaving and they get personal about it, they're undermining civilian control. |
It is serious, very serious in the growing civil-military tension of this administration, which has been considerable from the very beginning. Where it's going to go I do not know, but I think it ought to stop. |
It's a bursting of the dam in some ways of the frustration and anger, not only with the policies but with the way that Mr Rumsfeld has interacted with people, the disrespect he has shown to the military. |
No one wants to call the attention of the public to bloodletting and heroism and the horrifying character of combat. What situation can be imagined that would promote the war and not remind people of its ambivalence? |
Send one plane it's a sortie; send two it's a flight; send four and it's a test of airpower. |
There was a deep bitterness over Vietnam and the way the service chiefs had been co-opted. |
We can't be traveling four hours every time something needs to be done. |
We got into the game pretty late. Standard forms of marketing are not proving effective, so we've had to come up with a more ambitious marketing plan. |