Before September 11, Rumsfeld thought that his tenure
    would be defined by his determination to shake up the
    Pentagon, of all organizations in the world one of the
    most resistant to change. He knew that many generals
    would bitterly resist his innovations. It is hardly a 
    surprise that there are many officers--still serving and,
    especially, those who are now retired, in some cases 
    because they didn't fit with the new program--who 
    bitterly resent the changes that Rumsfeld brought to the
    armed forces. One of the ironies is that September 11 and
    the ensuing war on terror have verified the correctness
    of Rumsfeld's approach. The kind of army that was 
    appropriate for defending Europe against land attack 
    would be close to useless in the current conflict. It is,
    therefore, one more in a long series of sins on the part
    of the mainstream media that this context is almost
    completely absent from the media's gleeful coverage of
    these disgruntled generals.

***
    Griping ex-generals are always with us. President Clinton
    certainly had his detractors among the military brass, and
    not just retired brass. If I recall correctly, the MSM
    tended to attirbute this phenomenon to the neanderthalism
    within the military.