General revolt or much ado about nothing

The amount of attention devoted to examining the recent call by a few retired generals for Donald Rumsfeld to be replaced as Secretary of Defense is a sign of a slow news cycle. Today, without even trying, I stumbled across ten columns on the subject. Here are just a few.

Brain Shavings used graphics to respond to Katrina Vanden Heuvel of The Nation who asked:

Is there a retired general left in the States who hasn't called on Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld to fall on his sword?

The few who have called for Rumsfeld's ouster account for far less than one percent of the retired Flag officers (generals & admirals).

Tony Blankley of Townhall.com believes a Court of Inquiry should be convened to consider charges of insubordination against the various generals. While I am disgusted by the partisanship of the generals, I disagree with that idea. If they were on active duty I'd have no problem with them facing sanctions for publicly rebuking someone senior to them. However, since they are not on active duty I don't feel this constitutes an act of insubordination as is protected as free speech. Retired military personnel are subject to the Uniformed Code of Military Justice (UCMJ) but I don't think Blankley's idea is a path we want to travel.

A General Disgrace is an op-ed by Max Boot in the LA Times.

Former Defense Secretary Melvin Laird and retired Air Force LtGen Robert E. Pursley co-authored an op-ed titled Why Are They Speaking Up Now?

In The war against Rumsfeld, the Chicago Tribune acknowledges the fact that the fight against Rumsfeld started long before 9/11 or the Iraq War. Criticism of the war is cover for the fact that these generals just didn't like the changes Rumsfeld was pushing in an attempt to streamline our armed forces.

Retired Navy Rear Admiral Bill Center weighs in.

Appropriately, the final word on the matter belongs to the president. President Bush has made it very clear that he is NOT going to fire Rumsfeld. Funny thing is these complaints have put the president in a position where he couldn't fire Rumsfeld even if he wanted to. Between these generals and some congressional Democrats calling for his departure, Rumsfeld has probably never had such job security.