Sick Soldiers, Self-Deception and Spin

[sujan]

When an organization as large as the Department of Defense decides to deceive the American people, it must first deceive itself.


That’s the essence of a revealing quip by Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Richard G. Myers last week when briefing reporters at the Pentagon. Asked to comment on a poll of American troops in Iraq by the military newspaper Stars & Stripes that showed a sizable percentage of troops reporting poor morale, Myers said:


“I always worry – as a four-star , somebody’s always – you know, they’re bringing us all the happy folks. And, you know, I want to see the folks that have complaints, and sometimes they won’t let them near me. (Laughter.) So we know that phenomenon exists out there, and that’s why we have our tentacles out.”


The self-deception at issue here is the inability of the Bush administration, Joint Chiefs of Staff and the U.S. military as a whole to recognize how dysfunctional the military medical system has become in treating personnel who succumb to serious – but not life-endangering – illnesses.

http://www.iraqwar.ru/iraq-read_article.php?articleId=24518&lang=en

[OneBlueSky]

1. now there's an image that'll scare you . . .

a bunch of four-star generals with their testicles out . . .




oh . . . tentacles . . . never mind . . .