Four generals sat at the table with Tim Russert this morning on Meet the Press:



  • General Wesley Clark (Ret.) Fmr. NATO Supreme Allied Commander – Europe;
  • General Wayne Downing (Ret.) Fmr. Commander-in-Chief U.S. Special Operations Command;
  • General Barry McCaffrey (Ret.) Fmr. Commander-in-Chief U.S. Armed Forces Southern Command;
  • General Montgomery Meigs (Ret.) Fmr. Commander, NATO Stabilization Force


Clark, best I saw it, provided the masseter — the powerful jaw muscle — of the debate:

Gen. Clark: Two points. First, when generals are given senior command positions and they’ve had their entire lives and professional education in the military, they’re expected to have a body of professional knowledge and character that lets them stand up for what they believe. So we have a principle of civilian supremacy. No one doubts that the secretary of defense is ultimately in charge. He’s going to make the right decision or he’s going to make the right decision as he sees it. It’s up to the generals. If they feel he’s making the wrong decision, they fight it. If they feel it’s that significant, then they retire or resign from their position. Nobody’s done that. So whatever the thrashing around was, they are complicit in that decision, in those decisions. Whether they turn out to have been bad or not, that was military advice. (Emphases mine.)


Now, we’ve all been in positions where we’ve disagreed with our bosses, and it turns out, you know, bosses normally don’t like that, so it’s a pretty unpleasant thing, and you’ve got to have people of character in uniform at high positions, and then you’ve got to trust the process. In this case, I don’t think the answers that came out of that process were good.


Secondly, with regard to diplomacy, I’ve talked to members on the NSC staff. I know they’re not doing the diplomacy. … CONT. BELOW:

… Going to the Iranians and asking them not to help their side is not the kind of contact I’m talking about. I’m talking about having something like a contact group which we set up in the Balkans at the diplomatic level, at the representational level, in public where you can get nations’ interests out on the table, where you can talk about regional issues, including trade and travel, you know, tourism, visiting Najaf, where the airport are going to be. All of these are regional concerns, and they need to be dealt with in an open fashion.


It’s not just about cutting off the supply of weapons or the flow of jihaddists, although that’s part of it. This administration needs to bite the bullet and say, “Look, we’re in a part of the world where there are going to be people that we wouldn’t necessarily run their countries the way they’re doing it. But they are the governments, and we’re going to talk to them even if we don’t agree with everything they say.” It’s up to us find areas of common interest and try to work this. …


Meet the Press, Aug. 28, 2005