General Discontent With the War

It is a telling commentary on the catastrophe that the Iraq war has become and the damage it has done to the military, that several retired generals have gone public to harshly rebuke former Defense Secretary Rumsfeld and President Bush.

Now three of the generals are challenging a dozen members of Congress in a new TV commercial by VoteVets.org, saying the politicians can't support the president’s Iraq policy and expect to win re-election.

Says retired Major General John Batiste (photo):

"I am outraged, as are the majority of Americans. I'm a lifelong Republican, but it's past time for change.

"Our strategy in Iraq today is more of the same, a slow grind to nowhere which totally ignores the reality of Iraq and the lessons of history. Our president ignores sound military advice and surrounds himself with like-minded and compliant subordinates."

Batiste’s outspokenness apparently has now cost him his job as a CBS News consultant.

Not surprising, and Batiste should have expected as much. But Atrios notes that there are a slew of former generals shilling for the cable news channels and networks "cheering on the war," and anything less likely would earn them the boot.