Generally Speaking

Well, well, well… another retired General has spoken out against Bush and his war… but this is not just another retired general… this is retired three-star General William Odom, who was also the Director of the NSA under… wait for it… President Ronald Reagan...

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I’ll give a moment to allow any republicans reading this blog a moment to regain consciousness…
In an editorial/essay for Harvard University’s Nieman Watchdog, General Odom has called for the withdrawal of US forces from Iraq…

You can read the entire essay HERE.

This isn’t new, as General Odom has spoken out against the war before (read his Nieman essay from August 3, 2005 HERE), but this time he’s gone one step further, this time he’s provided Congress with a 3-Step plan to persuade “President” Bush to end the war;

“… the first step should be to rally the public by providing an honest and candid definition of what "supporting the troops" really means and pointing out who is and who is not supporting our troops at war […]

The next step should be a flat refusal to appropriate money for to be used in Iraq for anything but withdrawal operations with a clear deadline for completion […]

The final step should be to put that president on notice that if ignores this legislative action and tries to extort Congress into providing funds by keeping U.S. forces in peril, impeachment proceeding will proceed in the House of Representatives. Such presidential behavior surely would constitute the "high crime" of squandering the lives of soldiers and Marines for his own personal interest.”

Daaaaaaaaaammmmnnnnn… that’s gotta hoit…

I think it would be safe to say that Odom’s essay is a derisive and searing article that seeks to make change…

And he doesn’t keep his scorn to Bush, but also the (so-far) inept Democratically-controlled Congress by rebuking them for allowing Bush to smack them down “into submission” with accusations that anyone who wants withdrawal doesn’t support the troops… hence his first point in General Odom’s plan.

It seems that on a daily basis more and more people are beginning to see that our military is, as Odom writes, “combat-exhausted to the point of losing effectiveness.”

Also, it seems more and more people are finally starting to realize that the person responsible for getting us into this war is not protecting the country with his actions, but doing the exact opposite.

Thinking about this, anyone with their own brain must agree with Odom about what action Congress should take if “The Decider” or whatever idiotic name he’s going by now remains obstinate:

They must take action… they must take decisive action.

Whether it be censuring, impeachment or resignation, something needs to be done.

(Personally, I don’t think that impeachment is the best option, merely for the fact that if Bush were impeached, then Cheney would be elevated to president… and we certainly don’t want that…)

Still… perhaps if more leaders like General Odom spoke out about the war, something could be done to actually end it…