I just think that is a great painting. He looks like a scary mother-in-law.
Best,
Tom

to rise up and take responsibility for the abdication of Congress in the War in Iraq and in the condoning of torture. GOP and all their evil work and empty promises rely upon the assumption that the Speaker lacks the character to pass the leadership to another and demand the other Gang of Four members join her in doing so. She will set in motion the truth and prosecution commission, a real Baltimore ball breaker, that will grab them right from the clubs where they have hid for too long while bleeding our youth and depleting our treasury.

Believe the Speaker will rise beyond these exclusives worst nightmares.

Tartleton this, Tartleton that...

it's always about Tartleton, isn't it? But Tom's point is well taken. Now that Pelosi's been dragged into this (Bob Graham apparently has her back vs CIA), congress can't investigate it. DOJ is infested with compromised lifers, while paradoxically vulnerable to being painted as an arm of the obama administration. holder and obama both need to wash their hands of this.

Tom, do you have an opinion on appointing an independent counsel vs. a commission? do they amount to the same thing, other than the number of public personalities? seems as long as he/she/they are independent of DOJ and congress, it would work.

Criterion Collection's The Battle of Algiers DVD (apropos of your previous post) has an excellent documentary "États d’armes" by Patrick Rotman in which interviews with French participants of torture and extrajudicial killings ("crevettes Bigeard") make your point that "torture has two victims, the human suffering it and the human inflicting it."

This is a chapter of a larger documentary titled L'ennemi Intime, which is online here (the chapter "États d’armes") and here (complete). Unfortunately, there are no subtitles for the original French -- you'll need CC's BA DVD for those. Nevertheless, they contain remarkable historical footage of the French paras and police working in Algiers, including Roger Trinquier, Marcel Bigeard, and Jacques Massu, as well as a creepy dungeon-like contemporary interview with a deformed Paul Aussaresses who shrugs it all away.

The French experience with torture and its aftermath -- including the attempted suppression, denial, and rationalizations -- is directly relevant in the United States today. This should sound familiar:

The interrogatories is done in accordance with the provisional guide of the intelligence agent (Guide provisoire de l'officier de renseignement, OR), chapter IV: first, the officer questions the prisoner in the "traditional" manner, hitting him with fist and kicking him. Then follows torture: hanging, ... water torture, ... electricity, ... burning (using cigarettes, etc.) ... Cases of prisoners who were driven insane were frequent ... Between interrogation sessions, the suspects are imprisoned without food in cells, some of which were small enough to impede lying down. We must point out that some of them were very young teenagers and others old men of 75, 80 years or more.

The speaker has not just missed her chance, but picked it up and thrown it overboard with a vengeance. She had the same opportunity Clemens had - to come clean, describe the circumstances surrounding the issue, the all-important temporal context of the misdeed, transgression or lapse in judgment, what have you and start moving to the high ground while gaining support for being candid and thinking of the bigger picture.

She could have at least held the circling predators at bay, if not disarmed them, while gaining both moral and political capital with which to drive the future agenda to a commission. But now the syringes are being found dripping with her DNA and her soon to be former-best buddy will soon remember a chat about shooting up HGH or maybe we’ll find out Alexandra went on the juice because she had a big documentary about to start filming.

But no, she's obviously been drinking from the same "Gatorade" cooler as the Rocket and opened with "it never happened". When that is filled with holes, she follows up with "my job was to win the majority in Congress" which made me physically ill when I first heard it. Whether she actually believed that sad tripe is immaterial, but allowing those words to publicly pass her lips regarding her sworn duties to the Constitution while the world is watching (which is the norm for the speaker, isn’t it?) and on a topic so central to the mess this country is in politically, diplomatically, ad infinitum… simply nauseating.

Ladies and Gentlemen, your Speaker of the House and #2 in the presidential line of succession... Nancy Pelosi! (nod to Bill Simmons of ESPN.com)

Anyone happen to know of a handy unoccupied oil platform ripe for an immediate upgrade to sovereign statehood?

Concur on the pragmatic rationale for some type of commission, the Speaker’s dumpster fire of a crisis management exercise may actually help bring it to reality faster and in a more practical, non-partisan construct.

Tom Ricks wrote in the Washington Post to abolish all Academies and War Colleges but still has not told which if any of the Academies or War Colleges he has actually visited so that readers and listeners would know if Ricks had any valid knowledge of what he is talking about. That is, Ricks popped-off with "Lets kill Annapolis et al" with no personal knowledge of the life, culture, ethos of each of the Academies.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/04/16/AR2009041603483.html

The article by Tom Ricks in this case is irresponsible and sloppy and Ricks owes cadets, midshipmen, families, NOK, grads, prospects and his readers an apology for his weak journalism. His topic, Accountability and Transparency, is excellent -- Grads more or as much as any others urge Accountability and Transparency of their Academies -- and War Colleges -- and I have written so; but his actual article is so failed as to warrant some decent apology especially for injury to those who cannot hit back: families and NOK and the dead and prospects for academies affected by the sloppy article.

By way of introduction, my West Point class is 1966. I chaired construction of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in DC and worked with vets for decades building the Korean War Veterans Memorial, the Women's statue at the Wall, the Women in Military Service Memorial in DC and Memorials in many states. Right now I work to help the project for the WW II Women Pilots (WASPs) be awarded a Congressional Gold Medal, as were the Tuskegee Airmen. That legislation has just passed the Senate. For President Reagan I planned and directed the Vietnam Veterans Leadership Program in 47 states. Some of the programs continue to this day, on their own funding. The VVLP mission is to link vets up with each other to find jobs and to break the false stereotype of vets as folks to feel sorry for, to pity, to treat as victims; instead to recognize vets as Strong Warfighters and Strong Citizens. Many VVLP guys and gals now work this mission for Iraq and Afghanistan vets.

Here is why Tom Ricks owes an apology. First, he seems not even to know that USCGA and USMMA exist. But his piece would abolish them. What an insult to USCGA and USMMA -- to say abolish them and not mention them. Second, Ricks does not say where on the web his cost data can be obtained and examined. Third, he in fact has not visited all the Academies and War Colleges he would shut, in a way to learn their ethos and culture and effectiveness of teaching, but by his tone of (false) knowledge, readers would think he has some close knowledge of the schools; West Point reports that Ricks has visited briefly, but not to learn anything at West Point of depth about the life and values of cadets and West Point and of West Point grads.

Fourth, Ricks omits mention that Washington and Jefferson long ago had sharp discussions about the need for West Point, and Washington strongly wanted the Academy. Jefferson opposed until right after he became President and saw the light, so to speak. He set up West Point (and so all Academies) (except USCGA) to draw youngsters from all walks of life -- the very poor especially -- proportionately from all over America through Congressional appointment. The Academies Reflect America thanks to Jefferson's Genius and Washington's Leadership.

Ricks seems not to know that the founders were clear on the need for a National Military Academy and he does not re-examine their arguments. USCGA brings in applicants by examination only, not by appointment from Congress proportionally nationwide. USCGA still succeeds in reflecting all of America and in fact has a slightly higher proportion of women admitted than the other four academies.

Fifth, Ricks does a thing that shows complete unfamiliarity with the heartbeat and life of the Academies: he tries to separate the Graduates from their Academies by saying the Grads are "crackerjack" but the schools are "community colleges" -- meant to mean, "second or third rate." So he insults Community Colleges too :) Most Academy grads strive to embody the values of their Academy in their lives. Ricks, unaware of this, shows a kind of insulting ignorance.

Sixth, Ricks in his article holds up ROTC as a paradigm without noting that no O-10 in active service has faced Peer War -- WW II kind of like war -- meaning that in 2009 the military does not know if ROTC programs steel grads adequately for Peer War. Meanwhile, Academies are proved in steeling grads for Peer War. He does not address the known un-evenness and disparities and inadequacies reported on many ROTC programs nationwide. He shows ignorance of his subject matter, in short. He goes on to say that Academy grads are too expensive therefore, but with no foundation of fact and analysis. Some or many or all ROTC programs may in fact be significantly underfunded.

Seventh, Ricks in his piece uses some alleged hearsay about some commanders who prefer non-West Pointers, he says. That is fine -- West Point is not perfect and not nearly perfect :) But anecdotal hearsay proves nothing. An editor of merit would have deleted, and pressed for real substantiation.

Eighth, Ricks omits to say that more than any other Americans, many Academy grads believe that their Academies have to earn their keep anew in each generation. I have written this myself. It is a reason that I participated in and supported the work of author Rick Atkinson in his writing the book, "The Long Gray Line" about West Point and the class of 1966. I told Rick, "We owe an accounting, to say to Americans, this is what you gave to us, and this is our Report." The book shows my own foibles, blunders and errors :) The point is, Accountabilty and Transparency :)

Ninth, Ricks omits mention of women and the gateway that the Academies provide to women for contributing to the defense and life of our Country. In 2005 the 10,000th woman graduated from the Five Federal Academies (I did the research); America is now on the way to 15,000 women grads of the Academies. This is a powerful and culturally and militarily important cohort. Ricks seems oblivious to this aspect, the aspect of bringing women so quickly and fully into mainstream Military and (as vets) Community Leadership. This exhibits again the genius of Washington and Jefferson. They made this possible.

Tenth, the piece Ricks wrote is so journalistically irresponsible that it unforgivably wounded folks who Can't Fight Back. That is, he rattled the morale and feelings of parents of prospective cadets and midshipmen and the prospects themselves, and many cadets and midshipmen, and widows and NOK of Academy grads killed in battle, and he insulted the brave dead from Academies. Hal Moore USMA 1945 of "We Were Soldiers" is an overpriced product of a third-rate college? Some would disagree. His steel in saving his battalion is seen by many as Proof of West Point's Value as Founded by Presidents Washington and Jefferson. Paul W. "Buddy" Bucha USMA 1965 is an overpriced grad of a third rate school? Congress and the President probably thought otherwise in citing Buddy for the Medal of Honor for saving the 89 men in his surrounded and cut-off Company in the 101st Abn. My dad John Wheeler USMA Jan 1943 at Normandy and the Ardennes and the Bridge at Remagen and the Liberation of the Nordhausen Death Camps was the overpriced grad of a third rate school? Ricks can go to Arlington and speak that at my Dad's grave :)

Eleventh, Ricks rabbit-punches Dave Petraeus USMA 1974. He insults him. He calls Dave's school third rate but says Dave somehow got into Princeton for graduate school. Dave had been kind and gracious to Ricks. Ricks is rather insulting to the Commanding General who trusts him. He does owe an apology for that. Ricks ignores that Dave himself by his life and work strives to embody West Point.

Twelfth, Ricks clings to an unmanly quality of Never Own up to an Error. There are better men and women at the Washington Post than that. Dave Broder, for example. Ann Scott Tyson, for example. Henry Allen, for example. Don Graham, for example. Ricks instead has done the unmanly thing of hiding behind a few editors at the Post who hew to the "Never Apologize, Never Explain" doctrine that infects some Journalists. The ombudsman of the Post says he only does news, not opinion pieces. Ricks' editor at the Outlook Section has never explained why he let the journalistically weak piece get published in a Fine Newspaper. The Editorial Page editor still does not "get" the flaws of the Ricks writing. The topic -- Accountability for the Academies -- is superb and timely. The actual article is journalistically unprofessional and failed.

Ricks instead drifts along at stall-speed, so to speak, in denial -- unattractive in anyone but especially a journalist and author. Instead Ricks this week points out that the West Point class of 1976 with Raymond Odierno, Dave Rodriguez, and Stanley McChrystal had the travail of an Honor scandal -- a periodic event at USMA; but without mention that at West Point Honor is Real and the human condition means that humans fall short. The point is, West Point stands for and hews faithfully to Honor. And to Accountabilty and Transparency.

The Washington Post and Tom Ricks want the Military and the Academies to be Transparent and Accountable. But in this egregious case of awful journalism the Washington Post and Tom Ricks do not hold themselves to anything close to that Noble Standard.

The Editorial Page Editor and Outlook Editor of the Post and Ricks can Man-Up and apologize, at least to the young and innocent and good folks they wounded.

John Wheeler
USMA 66
wheelerusa@usa.net