Army Officer Criticizes Generals on Iraq
April 27th, 2007 . by TexasFredBAGHDAD (AP) - An active duty U.S. Army officer warns the United States faces the prospect of defeat in Iraq, blaming American generals for failing to prepare their forces for an insurgency and misleading Congress about the situation here.
“For reasons that are not yet clear, America’s general officer corps underestimated the strength of the enemy, overestimated the capabilities of Iraq’s government and security forces, and failed to provide Congress with an accurate assessment of security conditions in Iraq,” Lt. Col. Paul Yingling said in the article published Friday in the Armed Forces Journal.
Several retired generals have made similar comments, but such public criticism from an active duty officer is rare. It suggests that misgivings about the conduct of the Iraq war are widespread in the officer corps at a critical time in the troubled U.S. military mission here.U.S. spokesman Lt. Col. Christopher Garver said Yingling was expressing “his personal opinions in a professional journal” and the military was focused on “executing the mission at hand.”
Yingling served as deputy commander of the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment. He has served two tours in Iraq, another in Bosnia and a fourth in Iraq’s Operation Desert Storm in 1991. He attended the Army’s elite School for Advanced Military Studies and has written for one of the Army’s top professional journals, Military Review.
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Army Officer Criticizes Generals on Iraq
The 1st rule of career advancement: Thou shalt not criticize the POTUS or Sec/Def, no matter how wrong they are…
Yingling also broke the 2nd cardinal rule of career advancement: Thou shalt not criticize any commanding General even if that General IS an idiot…
Lt. Col. Paul Yingling just committed career suicide, in the interest of speaking the truth and telling it like it really is, he has sacrificed HIS career, you see, speaking the truth isn’t real popular anymore, not among many of our fellow bloggers, the current administration, the DoD and most supporters of the war in Iraq…
As the article says, “several retired generals have made similar comments, but such public criticism from an active duty officer is rare.” and that is the truth, in every sense of the word, and the reason is, many in the officer corps today are only concerned with one thing, and that is their career and how to advance it…
I am personally of the opinion that Lt. Col. Yingling either reads my blog and fashions his opinion after mine, or, God forbid, I have been right in MY accusations all along and my opinion is shared by people that aren’t blinded by politics, and have opinions that are formed by a real and sincere concern for what’s right for the USA and our troops, not the kissing of the presidents ass… Imagine that…
Or, Yingling could just be a moonbat anti-war traitor to the USA, I’m sure there’s a few on the FAR right that are already offering up that possibility, it seems like any opposing opinion garners that exact response from the FAR right and the ‘Bush Bot’ crowd, I know I have had a few of the FAR right accuse me of such nonsense…
Well, it may make me highly unpopular for saying this, but some folks need to open their eyes and take an objective look at what these retired Generals and folks like Lt. Col. Yingling are saying and not rely so much on the observations of the FOBBITS that never leave the wire and their wives that have never been there…
Remember Fred, 67% of Americans agree with every word you have ever said on this subject. The other 33% are, “Bush Bots or Proctologists for Bush.”
No worries, you have the American people behind you on this one.
Keep it up!
As a ‘serving officer’ this is an absolute ‘no,no’ for this officer. Yingling is either close to retirement or he just doesn’t care about his career. He’ll be lucky if he’s not drummed out of the bugle corp for this.
The Iraq War has been FUBAR from the start and I lay that right at the doorstep of the ‘CIVILIANS IN CHARGE’. Of course that’s a hallowed tradition in the US and dates all the way back to the Revolution.
Lt Col Yinglings article reads well enough but on reflection was a hollow meal. His entire discourse amounted to a critique, a very generalized critique, of the mechanics of our military personnel policies regarding officer advancement. It’s pretty difficult to disagree with his conclusions that we need smarter and more clairvoyant leaders.
LTC Yingling is definitely not a “moonbat.” He was an instructor at West Point and a gifted officer. He is an academic and his opinion and views are ones of academic and military understanding as well as an understanding of the risk to publish out of principle versus career.
Active Duty, there is no doubt in my mind, the man is brilliant, that was a sarcastic reference made to some of the detractors that think it treason to criticize the war in Iraq in any way and an act punishable by death to say ANYTHING bad about the POTUS…
A member of the military has to walk a tight political rope..all of us have sworn an oath to obey the orders of the officers appointed over us..and the POTUS in of course the Commander in Charge of the whole shooting match.
A military member of any rank who goes public with complaints..even contacting a congressman on a private issue..runs the risk of ruining a career…even when the military member is right.
Yeah, their was a major screwup in Iraq..and many of us old vets saw it coming and said so..ground taken and not secured is not with taking. Simply put there were not enough troops on the ground to secure what was taken.
The question to me is who made the war plans? Why did they ignore 1500 years of history of the area that told them that Sunnis and Shiite had been killing each other for centuries? Why did they not disarm the population as they conquered an area? Lots of questions and damn few answers and now it looks like it is FUBAR.
I’m a journalist (write for the Christian Science Monitor and Salon.com, among others) working on an article about the contributions Texas has made to the war, and how Texans are feeling about it at this point. Not an easy article to write. As a bartender at Luckenback told me last weekend, “Texans are hurting over this war, but you’re going to have a hard time finding anyone to tell you that up front.”
Last weekend I went to a memorial service for Lt. Phillip Neel in Fredericksburg. I’ve also getting in touch with Kristy Kruger, a musician whose brother, Lt. Col. Eric Kruger, was killed in Iraq last year.
I’m not taking an overtly political bent with the article. Interested in talking to some folks in Texas, a state that seems to be baring a large burden in Iraq, about where they are at this point with the war. Most interested in talking to folks who have family/friends in the service. Can be contacted at [email protected] or 504-418-4873.
Well maybe GW will listen now.. LOL
An LTCÂ with the nuts to tell it like it is to his superiors, is soon to be unemployed… No matter how RIGHT he is.