Yep, I watched it. I saw Cohen's actions as a continuation of the neocon strategy, back to Bennett and Lynne Cheney after 9-11, of accusing critics of lack of patriotism. As Lang said, who I thought handled himself well despite the over the top Marine guy, let's cut back on the shrill hyperventilation.
McCaffrey offered a very strong defense of his own position. It appears in the Times this morning.
A retired officer who has been publicly critical of the war plan, Gen. Barry M. McCaffrey of the Army, shot back at Mr. Rumsfeld in an interview, saying the military was blaming others for its own problems.
"I'm a professor of national security studies, and I know a lot more about fighting than he does," General McCaffrey, who led a mechanized infantry division during the 1991 Persian Gulf war, said of Mr. Rumsfeld. "The problem isn't that the V Corps serving officers are commenting or that retired senior officers are commenting on television. The problem is that they chose to attack 250 miles into Iraq with one armored division and no rear-area security and no second front."
nytimes.com
As for offering criticism, just go back to Nov of 2000. Imagine Gore had won. Then imagine the level and kinds of criticisms these same folk, like Cohen, like Warner, like Rumsfeld, like Cheney, etc. would have made. Far worse than what is happening now.
The Republicans and particularly the neoconservatives think they are entitled to hurl charges of lack of patriotism at their critics because they are "right." Wonder what happened to democracy, to the right to disagree at fundamental levels.
Much too thin skinned. |
