Barb. Starr on CNN dismissing the 6 generals as unimportant because

[glarius]

they are retired!....According to her if a current, acting general would "fall on his sword" and make the same statements as the 6, to quote Starr, that would be important!....Sounds like bullshit to me!

[gatorboy]

1. Yes, important to them...

To label any general still on duty, that opposes the war, as a traitor...

[okieinpain]

2. wonder what they are going to say when one does, and then is

followed by others.

[0007]

3. Sounds like bullshit to me too! Quick lets get back to the bear story.

[BootinUp]

4. And opinions are like @ssh#les. n/t

[maddezmom]

16. ain't that the truth

:hi:

[rfranklin]

5. They would have lost their pensions if they had refused to follow

orders from Rumsfeld and Bush. How dumb can you get? Or how dumb do they think all Americans are?

[wakeme2008]

6. that is BULLSHIT

and she knows it, for an active duty General to say that would maybe lose all their retirement :grr:

[tridim]

23. Isn't it an automatic courtmartial for an active duty general to

question the Pentagon or the President?

I might be way off here.

[EVDebs]

7. Starr needs to take off her govt. issue prescription lenses

You know, those rose colored ones she wears. Also, her psy-ops transmitter needs to be turned off.

[shoelace414]

8. like Zinni did?

[ceile]

9. I don't see her point.

They were active under Rummy, they had first hand experience. They are as credible as an active duty officer.

[Skittles]

43. she is a bush whore

no point necessary

[spanone]

10. It IS bullshit.

I heard one general speaking on NPR yesterday. HE SPOKE OUT while in uniform and lost part of his pension, ONE STAR and was forced to resign. Barbara Starr...hahahahahahahahah

[Vinca]

11. You know, with these so-called reporters it boils down to 1 thing:

a seat on the plane. Just watch. The soft peddlars are the ones who usually get to fly around the world on Air Force One.

[stepnw1f]

12. And Who is Barb. Starr? (nt)

[glarius]

15. She is the Pentagon reporter for CNN /nt

[stepnw1f]

35. Exactly... a hack

with no credibility on the issue.

[Wickerman]

13. Such a General would be in serious stuff

if he were to do so. Loss of rank and bennies, hell, they might be able to make a case for treason charges - you know this administration. She needs to get her facts straight before she spouts.

[The Magistrate]

29. Still, Sir

It would be good if one on active service did so, and resigned immediately afterwards. A general's trade, when all is said and done, is to compell other people to disregard the risk of grievous physical harm to themselves in the name of some higher interest beyond their personal well-being, and a general who will not subject himself to risk of a much slighter nature in that same higher interst of the nation he serves cuts a pretty poor figure, that no man of character could happily obey on the firing line....

[Wickerman]

37. You Sir, are quite right

but that would require some serious steel. I'm not sure that at this time in our history one can become a General and still have that much character.

Such an action would, of course, have some true impact.

[The Magistrate]

40. That Is Probably The Case, Sir

Your avatar will be grinning big as life outside my third-storey window before that happens, and for the reason you suggest....

[BOSSHOG]

14. Wow, knowledgeable opinions of american citizens unimportant

I'm retired, I guess I'll just shut the fuck up - NOT!

Babs may get her wish, an active duty general just may step up to the mike and call bullshit, bullshit. And bush said he'd listen to his commanders in the field.

[wake.up.america]

24. I don't agree with her that Zinni and others are meaningless props, but I

would like to see an active duty General come out and say, "I will not continue to support this travesty. I quit."

[BootinUp]

30. General Shinseki

He is perhaps most famous for publicly contradicting the Bush Administration's estimate of the number of troops needed for the Iraq War. By telling a congressional committee that he thought an occupying force of several hundred thousand men would be needed to stablize postwar Iraq, he broke ranks with the Bush Administration's estimate of only 100,000 troops. Both Donald Rumsfeld, the Secretary of Defense, and Paul Wolfowitz, the deputy defense secretary, immediately labeled Shinseki's estimates "far off the mark"<1> and "wildly off the mark".<2> But history has proven Shinseki's much higher estimates to be more accurate.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Retirement_of_General_Shinseki

[BOSSHOG]

31. When I was on active duty

in the late 90's - Zinni was God in the Marine Corps! I recall a movie starring Samuel L. Jackson and Tommy Lee Jones, both playing Marine Corps Colonels. Jones character was talking to a civilian in the white house who was a slimy bastard and said do you want a pissed off marine on your ass. The guy was sweating profusely.

[Garbo 2004]

17. Catch 22: they're not supposed to speak out publicly when they're active.

The usual "fall on their sword" move is to resign, so they can speak freely.

[Cleita]

18. They can dismiss it all they (whoremedia) like, it

won't change the reality that it is important.

[napi21]

19. Rumor is she may get her wish.

I don't have any links, but the other day I read several reports that said "several high ranking military officers said they would resign their commission if the Admin. does not take nukes off the table in discussions abouf Iran."

Being the stubborn fools that Shrub & Rummy are, I won't be surprised to see these resignations from the military happen!

[glarius]

22. We can only pray you are right!

:)

[KittyWampus]

41. That was in Hersch's article!

[DaveJ]

20. CNN apologists

I don't really mind the CNN apologists as of late. They are not jumping on the retired generals story or the Bush leak story too heavily, but if they did the neocons would all be shouting that the media is attacking them. I think it may be best that they keep a mellow tone for now and just let the truth sink in.

[glarius]

27. Why not just report the facts then?...Why did she make a personal comment

at all?

[DaveJ]

32. I noticed...

They seem to be jumping in during the middle of these stories and saying summarily, "Oh but it's not that serious..." What they mean is it's not so serious that * is finally going to be impeached like he deserves. Then they give some whacked out rationalization. I agree their rationalizations have no validity to them, but they are correct in stating that these events unfortunately are not leading to *'s impeachment as they should. Their whacked out excuses are just a reflection of the Republican mindset as flawed as it is.

[TheBaldyMan]

21. I'm surprised they haven't been refered to as 'disgruntled ex-

generals' yet. That's becoming the standard response to any that disagree with the administration. Perhaps Ms. Starr should remember that this is the time-tested way that senior figures at the Pentagon can use as a channel for dissent. For every open criticism that a retired General makes there are a lot more serving officers that say the same thing confidentially.

[dogday]

25. And if they did anything while they were still active duty,

they would shame them for turning on the military, not following the chain of command, demoralizing the troops, you name it, whatever they could come up with...

[ewagner]

26. It would have been the same as

a coup de' etat

No sworn officier would do that while in Uniform....unfortunately, it may take that to get Bush off of his Iran kick.......

[ourbluenation]

28. what about that female general at abu graib who was demoted to Col.

she has spoken out and is still not retired.

[Garbo 2004]

34. Karpinski retired after she was demoted. n/t

[peacetalksforall]

33. Proves their patriotism. They retired, then spoke. Or some of them did

[Rex]

36. She's a powder puff moran.

CNN only hires the brain-dead now, just like Foxnews.

[SoCalDem]

38. Catch-22

an active-duty general complains, and he's dismissed as a disgruntled person passed over for a plum assignment or "not a team player"....and cannot be trusted

a retired general complains, and he's criticized for not speaking out before retirement...and cannot be trusted

[glarius]

39. Well, we've just had Jeff Greenfield (CNN) poo-pooing it too.

His explanation is that this has always gone on. He made some weak observation at the end that this time was different, but it wasn't very effective.

[Disturbed]

42. The Corp Media still needs to support

the Bush Regime because most of the Media Moguls were complicit in the lies that lead to the Illegal Invasion of Iraq.