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Politics : Politics for Pros- moderated -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: LindyBill who wrote (133846)	8/23/2005 12:30:45 AM
From: ManyMoose	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 793841

I read that entire interview with Webb. It was outstanding. Here's the problem: It's a career killer, in many cases, to join this debate in a way that does not further the political agenda. And the end result is, you don't have the debate. I just finished reading "The Right Thing" by Commander Scott Waddle, the skipper of the Greeneville when it surfaced under that Japanese fishing boat. Some of these same issues were evident in that book. The Greeneville had civilian visitors because the Navy wanted to keep up public support for the very costly (and effective) nuclear submarine program. When the accident occurred, the same Navy just wanted Waddle and everyone that was unfortunate enough to be associated with him to go away. Some very fine leadership is routinely sacrificed for the political agenda perceived by the Navy. I think that is tragic. Webb addressed it in his interview. Civilian leadership is accountable to the public, and THEY should be the ones to stand up and demand that risk-taking be rewarded even when the risk turns out badly. Civilian leadership is set up for accountability to the people. We should let military leadership think about fighting the next war, not covering its backside.