Two wise men break ranks over Iraq

[CTC Command]

THE TIPPING POINT in the slow-motion crack-up of Bush radicalism -- more destabilizing in the long run, perhaps, than the crisis of Karl Rove and "Scooter" Libby; the collapse of the Harriet Miers nomination for the Supreme Court; the post-Katrina failures; the money lust of GOP lobbyist Jack Abramoff and friends; or the misadventures in Iraq -- may well be the dressing-down administered by two retired mandarins of old-school Republicanism.

One is the crusty but brilliant retired Army Col. Larry Wilkerson, who served as longtime deputy at the Pentagon and the State Department to Gen. Colin Powell. The other, more nuanced than Wilkerson but equally gifted in the ways of the world, is retired Air Force Gen. Brent Scowcroft, the trusted strategist who served two presidents, Gerald Ford and George H.W. Bush, in the sensitive post of national-security adviser, and gave pointed advice to three others, Nixon, Clinton and Bush the younger. Clinton listened. George W. didn't.

Last month, in separate expressions of outspoken disapproval -- little noted by the mainstream press but well attended by power players and policy makers -- Wilkerson and Scowcroft unleashed battering broadsides against the current administration.

In so doing, they provided a preview of the impending battle over who next runs the Republican Party: the romantics of the far right, who got us into deep trouble in Iraq, or the restless realists of old-school conservative Republicanism, who clamped their mouths shut in the interest of party unity -- until now.

Read the rest here.

[Kooperman]

The problem is that rational Republicans have no voice in the current Republican administration. The madhouse is being run by an alarmingly dangerous combination of oil-driven chickenhawks and crazy evangelical moneygrabbers. I don't see how our country can survive 3 more years of this lunacy without social upheaval.

[slum_goddess]

the romantics of the far right, who got us into deep trouble in Iraq

he's so nice...calling them 'romantics.' (BTW, i couldn't read the article--got a 500 servlet exception)

[CTC Command]

for anyone else that's having trouble getting the whole thing, just go here, then click

Jerry M. Landay: Two wise men break ranks over Iraq.

It will then probably ask you to register, then put the article up; mea culpa!

[DudeAsInCool]

I would add Rep Murtha from Pennsylvania - they are really reaching to criticize this marine veteran

[Wolfie]

he's so nice...calling them 'romantics.' (BTW, i couldn't read the article--got a 500 servlet exception)

Sometimes there is very fine line between romantic and delusional, Slum. I believe the latter is the case here

[slum_goddess]

you're absolutely right, Wolfie. in the beginning of this fiasco, i seem to remember other, veteran gov't official-type dudes either taking early retirement or being made totally redundant for daring to criticise bu$hCo, i remember thinking 'they're getting rid of the best, most experienced people they have, WTF?'

well, now we know. :(