General: Conservatives Are ‘Absolutely The Worst Thing That’s Happened’ To The U.S. Military

[babylonsister]

http://thinkprogress.org/2007/03/10/eaton-military/

General: Conservatives Are ‘Absolutely The Worst Thing That’s Happened’ To The U.S. Military

Retired Army Maj. Gen. Paul Eaton, who was in charge of training the Iraqi military from 2003 to 2004, appeared last night on HBO’s Bill Maher Show.

“We are in the midst of recovering right now from a constitutional crisis where you had the executive trump the other branches of government,” Eaton said. “Thank god” Congress changed hands in November, he said, giving us “a chance to unsort and figure out how to get out from under this.”

Eaton lamented that so many service members believe that conservatives “are good for the military.” “That is rarely the case. And we have got to get a message through to every soldier, every family member, every friend of soldier,” that the Bush administration and its allies in Congress have “absolutely been the worst thing that’s happened to the United States Army and the United States Marine Corps.” Watch it at link:

One year ago this week, Eaton called for the resignation of then-Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld in a New York Times op-ed. Vanity Fair has a new article checking in on Eaton now:

His new business cards say “consultant,” primarily because he doesn’t know what else he now is. Since he spoke out, several possible defense-related jobs have mysteriously dried up. ‘Maybe it’s the way I part my hair,’ he says. In late January, his elder son, a 29-year-old Arabic linguist who is an army specialist, went to Afghanistan. His younger son, 27, an army captain who has already spent 14 months in Iraq, will probably go back before long.

[wake.up.america]

1. Absolutely!!! Was does Bush hate the military?

[MADem]

2. A great American. He may be a consultant now, but what he needs to be

is a Democratic candidate for higher office.

The Vanity Fair article is HERE: http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2007/04/iraqgenerals200704?printable=true¤tPage=all




Enjoy.

[annabanana]

3. I sincerely hope that both his sons stay safe over there.

Gen. Paul Eaton is one brave dude.

[SusanaMontana41]

4. We cheered

everything Gen. Eaton said, which I'm sure the neighbors appreciated at 11 p.m. ...

All around, last night's "Real Time" was one of the best since the Katrina show and the one with Richard Belzer.

[sce56]

5. Kick this! Need to post it in the Video section of DU

Get this off to the greatest page!

“absolutely been the worst thing that’s happened to the United States Army and the United States Marine Corps.” - Retired Army Maj. Gen. Paul Eaton

[Blue_In_AK]

6. He was astounding last night

I almost couldn't believe my ears that he was so outspoken.

[Coexist]

7. knr

[Uncle Joe]

8. Kicked and recommended

Thanks for the thread babylonsister

[stonebone]

9. K&R

[teryang]

10. Traditional institutions are the bulwark of the Republic...

...so called "conservatives" have eviscerated our traditional institutions. The Patriot Act, the Intelligence Reform Act, Pentagon "reforms" concerning "tooth to tail" and "Army lite" are all aimed at destroying the integrity, interests, and inertia of traditional government institutions, which obstruct and stand in the way of the developement of totalitarian government.

The onset of these untoward changes in government was brought about by direct attacks on the press and the Congress, the First Amendment and the very Constitution, via anthrax which was directly traceable to government sources.

The rejection of the Geneva Conventions, the mass repudiation of international agreements, the advocacy of torture, pre-emptive war, agression without borders, the attack on Fourth Amendment restrictions on government surveillance, etc., are classic symptoms of the emergence of totalitarian rule.

As in Nazi Germany some of our Generals have been among the defacto defenders against the emergence of total power.

[BeyondGeography]

11. They send the military on a fool's errand

and treat them like shit when they come home...bet we still see most of them vote Republican in 2008.

Racism, homophobia, sexism, American chauvinism/nationalism...take your pick. One can only conclude that it all abounds in our military when it comes to their politics.

[Kolesar]

16. I am sure the officer corps will shift incrementally back to the gop in time

As soon as the RW message machine figures out how to manipulate their core values. Expect some other inhumane vision of conquest wrapped up in righteousness. Or at least they will tell them that their future jobs at Lockheed/Boeing/GE depend on the success of the gop.

[Laurab]

12. I wish we could find out what the question was he wanted to ask

apparently, Bill had run out of time and had to go to his panel - I hate to have missed anything General Eaton wanted to say.

[babylonsister]

13. I missed the whole show, so am now anxious to see it. nt

[Norquist Nemesis]

20. I saw that too!!! I so wanted to hear what that questions was. n/t

[treestar]

14. And so many of my rightie friends have assured me

That the military is 99.9999999% republican!

:rofl:

[MissMarple]

15. Priceless. What an honorable, patriotic man he is. n/t

[pacalo]

17. The video says it all -- here's the link...

thanks to crooksandliars

[Rydz777]

18. Contractors

There was an interesting exchange on Meet the Press today. In addition to the dead military, over 800 American contractors have been killed in Iraq. This thing is a disaster on every level.

[LiberalFighter]

19. Eaton also made this statement about Republican myth regarding military

The Blog From Another Dimension Archive 3/11/2007

We've got this thing that so many military believe that Republican administrations are good for the military. That is rarely the case. And, we have to get a message through to every soldier, every family member, every friend of soldiers that the Republican party, the Republican dominated Congress has absolutely been the worst thing that's happened to the United States Army and the United States Marine Corps.

--Major General Paul Eaton (retired)

Check out the blogger's response to Major General Eaton's quote. Very good!