XDA

The Army Chief of Staff, General (4 stars) George Casey, Jr., has risen above the chaff of his current office's obscurity to be detected on the radar of several people dismayed by his poor performance this century and his recent idiocy on TV. Let's take a look at the former first.

Casey, an armored forces commander, a tank guy, was senior coalition commander in Iraq from June 2004 to February 2007, the dark days of the Iraq war. He replaced three star Ricardo Sanchez and about every thing he did after that was wrong. Rather than conduct a proper counter-insurgency, he holed up his forces in huge bases and waited for the populace and Iraqi forces to provide him with the actionable intelligence he needed to go kill terrorists. It never came, mainly because it was very dangerous under those circumstances to co-operate with the Iraqi forces or with us. So we frittered away years and thousands of American soldiers' bodies and lives (usually to IEDs) as the al Askari Mosque in Samara was bombed and Iraq slouched towards a full civil war. Casey opposed the so-called surge change in tactics proposed by Generals Keane and Petraeus, et al., the latter of which generals replaced him, thank the Lord, and won the war that Casey was blowing big time. Casey was apparently a constant thorn in the side of President Bush, who ultimately had to kick him upstairs where it was thought that he could do no real damage. Fat freakin' chance.

Here is part of what Casey said in response to questions about the alleged traitorous murders of fellow soldiers at Fort Hood by alleged Muslim extremist Major Hasan (I don't know why I keep writing "alleged"--whom am I kidding?):

I’m concerned that this increased speculation could cause a backlash against some of our Muslim soldiers. And I’ve asked our Army leaders to be on the lookout for that.

[...]

Our diversity, not only in our Army, but in our country, is a strength. And as horrific as this tragedy was, if our diversity becomes a casualty, I think that’s worse.

Again, let's take the first, first. What freakin' backlash? Mona Charen nails the old and getting older calumny here. I'm sorry, were Muslim soldiers the victims here or were American soldiers the victim of a Muslim? It's difficult to tell sometimes.

As to the latter, the 'diversity über alles' shibboleth, is this really what this loser thinks? Perhaps in the specific case of one soldier shooting his fellow soldiers, we're carrying the big tent thing a bit too far. As Mark Steyn writes:

General Casey has a point: An army that lets you check either the "home team" or "enemy" box according to taste is certainly diverse.

But I think we want our soldiers defending their comrades in arms and shooting the enemy not the other way around. It is the elevation of "diversity" over plain old common sense, which kept Major Hasan on an Army base and promoted him, when any rational leadership would have at least kicked him out of the Army, if not brought him up on charges (sedition, anyone? Bueller? Bueller?).

There is no evidence in his background and history that General George Casey, Jr. has any ability other than to rise through the ranks. He should be invited to resign.

I'm reminded of an old joke from the Vietnam War (paraphrased here): What's the difference between the Boy Scouts and the Army?

The Boy Scouts have adult leadership.

Labels: General George Casey, Jr; Global War against Islamic Fascists