Napoleon famously observed that War is too important to be left to Generals. What he meant by that is simple:Soldiers fight and die on the battlefield nd the civil political leadership makes all the strategic decisions. Secretary of State Condi Rice seems to have forgotten this piece of Napoleonic wisdom when she observed in London that a thousand tactical blunders were made, thereby blaming the military for the failure to produce results. The US leadership set an impossible mission : War against Islam and what is called Islamic Terorrism. Such a war requires both human intelligence and hard military tactics. Unfortunately there was all round failure on the humit front. Even in Iraq the Generals asked for nearly 3 times the number that was finally granted in order to perform the job. In this context a former general of the US Marine Corp has demanded the resignation of the Secretary of Defence. It is ofcours now abundantly clear that the leadership of the Iraq War has been poor right from the start and that there were monumental blunders all along: Paul Bremmer's decision to disband the Iraqi Army must rank the foremost of such blunders and the decision to encourage Shiaa against the Sunni is perhaps the second. Yet for a former military commander to publically call for the resignation of Secreatary of Defence undermines the concept of civilian control of the military, the bedrock of democratic regimes. Even if the present Secretary is removed, it will not make any difference as far as Iraq is concerned because the civil war in Iraq will carry on with a momentum of its own.
It is just too cute on the part of retired generals to cry foul when in fact there is now little chance of the USA emerging from Iraq with its prestige intact. The US soldier can do without former generals snapping at his feet. I feel that it is for the civilian leadership both at the Congress and the White House to decide the strategic objectives of the War and decide on the right exit option. Let former soldiers just fade away.