Michele Kearney's Snuffysmith's Blog

Winning
Trump Loves to Do It, But American Generals Have Forgotten How
By Andrew J. Bacevich
President-elect Donald Trump’s message for the nation’s senior military leadership is ambiguously unambiguous. Here is he on 60 Minutes just days after winning the election.
Trump: "We have some great generals. We have great generals."
Lesley Stahl: "You said you knew more than the generals about ISIS."
Trump: "Well, I'll be honest with you, I probably do because look at the job they've done. OK, look at the job they've done. They haven't done the job."
In reality, Trump, the former reality show host, knows next to nothing about ISIS, one of many gaps in his education that his impending encounter with actual reality is likely to fill. Yet when it comes to America’s generals, our president-to-be is onto something. No doubt our three- and four-star officers qualify as “great” in the sense that they mean well, work hard, and are altogether fine men and women. That they have not “done the job,” however, is indisputable -- at least if their job is to bring America’s wars to a timely and successful conclusion.
Click here to read more of this dispatch.
http://www.tomdispatch.com/post/176215/tomgram%3A_andrew_bacevich%2C_the_swamp_of_war/#more