On October 11, just five days ago, the Washington Post reported that Defense Secretary Robert Gates had authorized the Army to offer bonuses of up to $35,000 to keep captains from leaving the service.
Today, on October 16—just five days later—12 former Army captains (all Iraq veterans) responded by advocating for a withdrawal from Iraq:
There is one way we might be able to succeed in Iraq. To continue an operation of this intensity and duration, we would have to abandon our volunteer military for compulsory service. Short of that, our best option is to leave Iraq immediately. A scaled withdrawal will not prevent a civil war, and it will spend more blood and treasure on a losing proposition.
America, it has been five years. It's time to make a choice.
Now, most Republicans will call this "defeatism." Rush will call this "phoniness." And Frederick Kagan will likely call this "short-term thinking."
I call this "the Army giving the collective finger."
This development shows a couple of things: First, from lower enlisted soldiers to three-star generals, the Army is clearly no longer interested in Mr. Bush’s war. Second, unlike the mercenaries of Blackwater, this shows that the Army officer corps cannot be bought off by Mr. Bush’s cronies.
Now, if I’m a Republican, this latest op-ed piece really freaks me out. Because if I’m a Republican (especially one in the Senate), I’ve been arguing since Friday that General Sanchez’s criticisms of the Bush administration are irrelevant because he didn’t "resign" in protest to tell us how he felt. For instance, two days after Sanchez verbally savaged the Bush administration, Senator John McCain
said Sanchez should have spoken out at the time -- or resigned -- but "unfortunately, that doesn't happen very often."
And this is very funny that McCain would say such a thing on Sunday, especially considering that on Tuesday, 12 Army officers who had resigned their positions after serving in Iraq would speak out along similar lines to those of General Sanchez.
I wonder what Senator McCain will say now. In fact, I really wish him, McConnell, Graham, and the rest of them the best of luck in spinning this. Because they’re going to need it.
This is the best way to sum it up: The Department of Defense is saying to its officers, "We will pay you $35,000 bonuses if you keep fighting in Iraq." And in return, the officer corps is saying, "We are not mercenaries. We do not want your blood money. And we no longer wish to be involved in your insane war."