Company Commander Gets the Boot

First off, let me say that her incompetence has nothing to do with the fact that she's a woman. Some of the best company commanders I ever served with were women. In fact, one of my best female buds in Iraq was a much better commander than her husband (sorry Bryan, but you know it's true).

The commander of the 343rd Quartermaster Company was just overwhelmed. She certainly had a tough job, and she was clearly not up to the task:

The outgoing commander is not suspected of misconduct and this move has nothing to do with the guilt or innocence of anyone involved.

True- lack of leadership ability does not imply guilt or misconduct, but relief from company command is a career killer- especially when you get it on a national stage.

I'm Finally Ethical

Today, I felt the effects of Abu Ghraib firsthand. I sat through a way-too-long 1-hour ethics class- taught by an Army lawyer. Let me say that again. For 1 hour, a lawyer taught me about ethics.

I've been expecting this sort of knee-jerk reactionary measure since the scandal broke. It's not enough that a bunch of sex-crazed S&M enthusiasts from Backwoods, Maryland completely ruined our rep- now they've caused us to all to sacrifice one precious hour of our lives. Losers. At least the highest ranking guy received a nice long sentence.

I've noticed that nobody on the left wants to talk about how perfectly the Army handled this scandal. The powers that be were honest and up-front from the start. They rounded up the perps and prosecuted them swiftly. The story is simple- a crime was committed and the offenders were punished. That should have been the end of it.

The Army wanted to keep the pictures from being shown, because the brass knew that showing those pictures would only fan the flames of the insurgency (which they did). Of course, CBS had other plans. Screw the deployed soldiers- let's get ratings! CBS and every other news agency that showed those pics has blood on their hands- make no mistake about it.

No- all the talk is about why this happened. Who's responsible. People want so desperately to pin it on Rumsfeld and/or Bush.

Well, I could find out why it happened. If I had a film crew and about 6 months of spare time, I could make a documentary that would explain it all. But I wouldn't talk to Rumsfeld, Bush, or anyone that has anything to do with the military. I'd go straight to Cresaptown, Maryland. I'd go to the schools that these soldiers attended. I'd interview their teachers, their families, their friends, former boyfriends/girlfriends. I'd go to the places where they'd hang out together and bond after a hard day at the office. I'd talk to the local bar owners and police. I'd find out everything there was to know about each and every one of those miscreants. 6 months and a film crew- and I'd have all the answers. I guarantee it.

Secretary-General Clinton?

I'm not kidding- I saw this on Drudge:

Former U.S. President Bill Clinton has set his sights on becoming U.N. secretary-general. A Clinton insider and a senior U.N. source have told United Press International the 56-year-old former president would like to be named
leader of the world body when Kofi Annan's term ends early in 2006.

The thing that shocks me the most- I don't even know what to think about it! What if he gets it, and then Hillary becomes President in 2008? Could we then take over the world? What does Monica think about all this? Too many questions...