Visceral has its Value

I must strongly protest Maureen Dowd's advice to the President (Visceral Has Its Value, New York Times Week in Review, November 22, 2009: 11). The suggests that the President tell his general(s) "Your pie holes you will shut, or rise higher you will not."

That, essentially was what President Bush told the top echelons of the military when General Shinseki was sidelined when he spoke the truth about the number of boots on the ground needed to pacify Iraq.

We need Generals, Administrators, and lawyers who will speak truth to power. Without them, as was very much the case during the Bush Presidency, we are lost.

Democracies thrive on informed debate.

Sent to New York Times