Here at the intellectual center of the United States Army, two elite officers were deep in debate at lunch on a recent day over who bore more responsibility for mistakes in Iraq — the former defense secretary, Donald H. Rumsfeld, or the generals who acquiesced to him.
"The secretary of defense is an easy target," argued one of the officers, Maj. Kareem P. Montague, 34, a Harvard graduate and a commander in the Third Infantry Division that was the first to reach Baghdad in the 2003 invasion. "It's easy to pick on the political appointee."
"But he's the one that's responsible," retorted Maj. Michael J. Zinno, 40, a military planner who worked at the headquarters of the Coalitional Provisional Authority, the former American civilian administration in Iraq.
No, Major Montague shot back, it was more complicated: the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the top commanders were part of the decision to send in a small invasion force and not enough troops for the occupation. Only Gen. Eric K. Shinseki, the Army chief of staff who was sidelined after he told Congress that it would take several hundred thousand troops in Iraq, spoke up in public.
"You didn't hear any of them at the time, other than General Shinseki, screaming, saying that this was untenable," Major Montague said.
As the war grinds through its fifth year, Fort Leavenworth has become a front line in the military's tension and soul-searching over Iraq. Here at the base on the bluffs above the Missouri River, once a frontier outpost that was a starting point for the Oregon Trail, rising young officers are on a different journey — an outspoken re-examination of their role in Iraq...
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Since i have never served in the U.S. Army, instead serving in the Australian Army, you can deleete this post or make of it what you will.
There is a phenomenon in business that is worse today than it ever has been and it infects every institution, including the Military.
That phenomenon is the infection of the institution with persons suffering what is called "Narcissistic Personality Disorder". I've had to deal wit two of them, one in personal life, one in business. They are chiefly concerned with their own careers and make rotten strategic decisions because of it.
I suggest that the simpest explanation of the aquiesence to the Iraq war is a preponderance of infected people at the decision making level.
Basically these people will do anything to get ahead and they have zero scruples. They are often very intelligent, their only problem is that they cannot empathise with those below them and they will do anything to please their perceived seniors in order to get ahead.
From what I've read of Gen. Schwarzkopf's (who stands out to me as a great commander) autobiography, there are plenty of them in Washington.
Please note, this condition is not just about "blind ambition", there is more to it.