Cushman vs. Hoffman: America's General Officer Corps--Honest And Obedient Or Spineless "Yes" Men.

• Position: John H. Cushman - Brief article

COMMENT ON:

Cushman vs. Hoffman: America's General Officer Corps--Honest and Obedient or Spineless "Yes" Men

(www.unc.edu/depts/diplomat/item/2007/1012/iar/iar_vers us.html)

FROM:

Lieutenant General John H. Cushman, U.S. Army, Retired

The reviewer has missed the essential point of my paper, "Planning and Early Execution of the War in Iraq: An Assessment of Military Participation."

He writes only that "(Cushman) reminds his readers that the military, under civilian authority, has few realistic options to obeying a lawful directive (and he) concludes that most officers will offer their best advice, take its rejection in stride, and then do the best they can with what they have."

Although not precisely among what I said, this is quite true. But Colonel Handley does not at all address the main thrust of my paper, spelled out in its text and summarized in these words:

"The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff failed in that he did not comprehend the nature of the war that the United States was about to enter and the grave deficiencies in the Secretary of Defense's guidance for its post-hostilities phase, or, if he understood...