by Col. Patrick W. Lang (Ret.)
Someone asked me if I experience hostility from the US military (active or retired).
 Col. Patrick W. Lang (Ret.), a highly decorated retired senior officer of U.S. Military Intelligence and U.S. Army Special Forces, served as “Defense Intelligence Officer for the Middle East, South Asia and Terrorism” for the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) and was later the first Director of the Defense Humint Service. Col. Lang was the first Professor of the Arabic Language at the United States Military Academy at West Point. For his service in the DIA, he was awarded the “Presidential Rank of Distinguished Executive.” He is a frequent commentator on television and radio, including PBS’s Newshour, and most recently on MSNBC’s Hardball and NPR’s “All Things Considered.” His CV and blog are linked below. |
The answer is no, not so far. I had a college classmate (a retired officer) write to me early in the Iraq War to say that my presumption in writing on this subject reflected his memory of me as a “smart ass,” and that his present (then) employment as a consultant for a DoD contractor company providing hot meals for the troops should make me more sensitive of the fragility of his warlike feelings and morale. Touching.
There a lot of generals out there who are scared silly of Rumsfeld and Bush and would never talk to me in pyblic for fear that Rummy might find out. Warriors? A lot of them are reading this now. My father was a tough old soldier, rather like one of the senior sergeants in “From Here to Eternity.” He retired as an officer, but in his heart he was always a sergeant major. He told me often that whenever I might be tempted to trust a general officer I should remember how he “got to be one.” There are generals whom I admire. You know who you are, but the craven behavior of present day generals is depressing. Why has no one resigned in the face of stupidity on both the strategic and tactical level? Why?
There are a lot of people out there in “cloud cuckoo land” who would like to “turn Iraq into a glassy parking lot.” That would work, but we are not going to do that. The American people will not allow that. That being the case, let us all think positively about solutions for this awful dilemma that we have made for ourselves. Above all, remember that “Specialist Snuffy Smith” of the Arkansas National Guard or “Lance Corporal Jones” of the 1st Marine Regiment were sent there by the government that we elected. They did not pick this war or this enemy and they only volunteered once, when they joined up.
Continued BELOW:
Having said this, I should expect nastiness in the mail. I do.
Personal Blog: Sic Semper Tyrannis 2005 || Bio || CV
Recommended Books || More BooTrib <a href="Posts
Novel: The Butcher’s Cleaver (download free by chapter, PDF format)
“Drinking the Kool-Aid,” Middle East Policy Council Journal, Vol. XI, Summer 2004, No. 2
I am a military spouse that you won’t be getting any nasty mail from. I read you here on Booman daily so that I can have one small brief moment of military sanity. I also take time out for Wes Clark whenever he is available. I want my country safe, I want my husband home alive, I want our soldiers home safely, I want peace and prosperity for ALL Iraqi’s. Sometimes somebody who knows that I am a Wes Clark fan will start some blather with me that “he wasn’t a good soldier…..he was known to question things” and all I have to say to that is PLEASE GET OVER YOUR FANATICAL RABID MILITARY CRAZED SELF!
I quoted from your and Brinnaine’s posts over at Pat’s blog. If you feel like writing to him there, he’ll respond to you… he usually does.
God, I wish we had people like him and Larry Johnson running the intel / military in this country.
They both should run for office. For one thing, their voices need to be heard everywhere.
I know you don’t need to hear this from me, but here it is: without people like you, we wouldn’t have 1/2 the truth that we have now. In this new era of intimidation and confromity to the “party line”, I am extrmeley thankful that people with your bona fides are willing to speak out and call bullshit.
And if you’re getting nastiness in your email, at least you know they’re listening!
My sense is that a hell of a lot of people in the military are very smart, educated, and committed, disciplined people.
And I bet they ARE scared silly of Rumsfeld and Bush.. for a lot of reasons. (What Bush and Rummie are up to, what’ll happen to them if they dare to speak out, etc.)
But then there’s the root problem that Pat mentions at the end: How in the hell do we get ourselves out of this dilemma? Oh god.
It’s really unfortunate that military people must live in fear of their superiors to the point where their free speech is suppressed. I understand loyalty to the CIC ought to be paramount, but blind loyalty to this CIC – who is so absolutely unqualified – is dangerous.
OF OUR TIME. How do we get out of the dilemma of BushCo and Iraq, without making matters worse. GW created a power vacuum in Iraq when Saddam was “outed”. The sense that I get out of the reports from there now is that we are in the middle of the implosion that vacuum created.
In my mind there is no question that our continued presence in Iraq, fuels the insurgency. More of our GI’s die, more Iraqi’s die and the infant government is further destabilized.
On the other hand, if we pull out as soon as possible, aside from getting our troops home, will any positive change occur there? Will the “civil war” be worse? Will Islamic extremism spread to other currently stable middle eastern nations? Then of course, what about the oil? If we leave, do we lose that source of oil completely, and risk losing other middle eastern sources as well?
From your experience Col., what DO we do now??
What about the oil?
The oil is not ours to lose.
However, that simple truth is impossible for many Americans to conceive. They are simply not capable of understanding that the United States does not own the earth.
And for that belief, they will sacrifice not only their own lives, their own chance at legitimate statehood, but their own children.
The answer to the question, how does US leave, is the same as the answer to the question, how would US want Iran to leave, had Iran invaded and occupied the US.
But it is kinda tough to talk about Iran (oops Iraq) and not talk about the oil. We have grown rather fond of it over the last hundred years or so. Our thirst does not show signs of being quinched, that I can see either. Don’t like it, anymore than it sounds like you do, but there it is.
If you would humor me for a minute, and accept the above, tell me how to get from where we are to where you would like us to be. Just leave??
I appreciate your time and your response to my first comment.