In the novel, Once An Eagle, author Anton Myrer begins with this quote:

"So in the Lybyan fable it is told
That once an eagle, stricken with a dart,
Said, when he saw the fashion of the shaft,
"'With our own feathers, not by others' hands,
A...

And, to the best of my knowledge, that's exactly what the administration has done - picked generals who would go along to get along. In IRRC Rumsfeld earlier wanted to get rid of all the top generals, on the grounds that the administration had a right to 100% their choices.

I'm puzzled as to the lack of understanding on how an administration devoted to political overrides of standard bureaucratic processes *wouldn't* be suspected of interference here.

I was a freshman in high school when you start at USMA and I now have 18 1/2 years in the Marine Corps.

Yup. My cohort (1988) are LTCs and rising COLs now. They'll be eligible to retire in another year.

One of my high school classmates had retired from the Navy by the time of our 20th reunion, having enlisted right out of school and later gotten commissioned.

On another note, James you are getting old. I was a freshman in high school when you start at USMA and I now have 18 1/2 years in the Marine Corps. Sorry, couldn't pass up the opportunity.

Semper Fi!

An individual who is seen as particularly gifted, industrious, or otherwise noteworthy is generally considered a threat to the positions of those above him/her on the corporate ladder. While these corporate superiors are keen to make use of such a person's talents, frequently even taking credit for his/her accomplishments, they are also careful to keep him/her from gaining any exposure that might lead to promotion so as to protect their own positions.

I have personally seen many cases where outstanding employees in an organization work hard for years only to get nowhere and end up quitting out of frustration. Conversely, I have seen individuals who excelled at butt-kissing (but nothing else) go on to reach high levels in corporate management.

All this seems to give credence to Darwin's theory of survival of the fittest. Only in this case, it becomes survival of the wiliest.

Also, you're forgetting that one trademark of this administration is an unrelenting attack on bureaucratic processes, checks and balances, whenever they would frustrate the administration's political policies.

Bush is president, and has had an incredibly free hand (or rather, Rumsfield and Cheney have) in the selection of the higher generals for six years.

Senior generals are, essentially, political appointees. One and two stars are not. The former, especially, are picked by the same sort of promotion boards that pick field grade officers. It's a purely bureaucratic process.

Bush doesn't actually get a vote on promotion board meetings, so I guess we can ignore him?

This is certainly a unique view of the structure of authority and power in the US government. I never knew this, but I stopped at Poli Sci 101 :0

Bush is president, and has had an incredibly free hand (or rather, Rumsfield and Cheney have) in the selection of the higher generals for six years. Bush (& R&C) are also Republicans, which the overwhelming majority of officers also are (ie, Clinton would presumably have had far less influence). Congress has been GOP for a bit, and remarkably supine under Bush & C&R.

However, I do partially agree with you - I'd be willing to lay a good pitcher of beer that a bunch of generals who've failed at COIN were happy to slip one in his back, due to his successes where they've failed.

And given that 'Dereliction of Duty II - Worse than Before!' is soon to be written, they probably had sh*t-eating grins on their faces when they did so.

Peter Principle: A colloquial principle of hierarchiology, stated as "In a hierarchy every employee tends to rise to his level of incompetence." Formulated by Dr. Laurence J. Peter in his 1968 book The Peter Principle, the principle pertains to the l...

COL. McMASTER....Aside from David Petraeus himself, probably the most celebrated soldier of the Iraq War has been Col. H.R. McMaster, author of Dereliction of Duty and the guy who had about a thousand newspaper articles written about him when he......

The legendary Colonel H.R. McMaster has been passed over, for a second time, for promotion to flag rank.

I have no idea what this means. Does this have something to do with Harry Potter?