Cushman versus Hoffman: America's general officer corps--honest and obedient or spineless "yes" men.

AuthorHandley, John
PositionDereliction of Duty Redux? - Planning and Early Execution of the War in Iraq: An Assessment of Military Participation - Book review

Planning and Early Execution of the War in Iraq: An Assessment of Military Participation

by LTG John H. Cushman, U. S. Army, retired

www.west-point.org/publications/cushman/ForArmyWarCollege.pdf

Dereliction of Duty Redux?

by Frank Hoffman, Senior Fellow, FPRI

www.fpri.org/enotes/200711.hoffman.derelictionofdutyredux.html

The title of this review captures the essence of two authors' differing assessments of the U. S. military's generals and admirals. Retired LTG John Cushman offers a historical sketch entitled "Planning and Early Execution of the War in Iraq: An Assessment of Military Participation." He initially traces the development of both the Department of Defense and the U. S. military as a profession and ends with planning for the Iraq War. General Cushman provides ample criticism of both civilian and military decision-makers, yet he reminds his readers that the military, under civilian authority, has few realistic options to obeying a lawful directive. He states that the educational development of military officers at all levels ensures they provide superiors an honest assessment of any situation and give the best possible advice on how to accomplish any mission. The problem for the officer comes after this point: When the requested advice has been rejected or greatly modified by higher authority, the officer can resign (retire), request reassignment, or accept the situation and attempt to accomplish the mission with the reduced resources. General Cushman provides examples of some generals, such as Eisenhower and Marshall, who threatened to resign if forced to adhere to a policy with which they strongly disagreed, but he generally 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.

In "Dereliction of Duty Redux?" Frank Hoffman offers a less temperate criticism of the military officer corps, especially its flag officers, whom he views as little more than spineless "yes" men. He states that if civilian "policy masters" fail to...

To continue reading

Request your trial

VLEX uses login cookies to provide you with a better browsing experience. If you click on 'Accept' or continue browsing this site we consider that you accept our cookie policy. ACCEPT