By Thomas
E. Ricks
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, April 27, 2007; Page A04
An active-duty Army officer is publishing a blistering attack
on U.S. generals, saying they have botched the war in Iraq
and misled Congress about the situation there.
"America's generals have repeated the mistakes of Vietnam
in Iraq," charges Lt. Col. Paul Yingling, an Iraq veteran
who is deputy commander of the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment. "The
intellectual and moral failures . . . constitute a crisis in
American generals."
Yingling's comments are especially striking because his unit's
performance in securing the northwestern Iraqi city of Tall
Afar was cited by President Bush in a March 2006 speech and
provided the model for the new security plan underway in Baghdad.
He also holds a high profile for a lieutenant colonel: He
attended the Army's elite School for Advanced Military Studies
and has written for one of the Army's top professional journals,
Military Review.
The article, "General Failure," is to be published
today in Armed Forces Journal and is posted at http://www.armedforcesjournal.com.
Its appearance signals the public emergence of a split inside
the military between younger, mid-career officers and the top
brass.
Many majors and lieutenant colonels have privately expressed
anger and frustration with the performance of Gen. Tommy R.
Franks, Lt. Gen. Ricardo S. Sanchez, Lt. Gen. Raymond T. Odierno
and other top commanders in the war, calling them slow to grasp
the realities of the war and overly optimistic in their assessments.
Some younger officers have stated privately that more generals
should have been taken to task for their handling of the abuses
at Abu Ghraib prison, news of which broke in 2004. The young
officers also note that the Army's elaborate "lessons
learned" process does not criticize generals and that
no generals in Iraq have been replaced for poor battlefield
performance, a contrast to other U.S. wars.
Top Army officials are also worried by the number of captains
and majors choosing to leave the service. "We do have
attrition in those grade slots above our average," acting
Army Secretary Pete Geren noted in congressional testimony
this week. In order to curtail the number of captains leaving,
he said, the Army is planning a $20,000 bonus for those who
agree to stay in, plus choices of where to be posted and other
incentives.
Until now, charges of incompetent leadership have not been
made as publicly by an Army officer as Yingling does in his
article.
"After going into Iraq with too few troops and no coherent
plan for postwar stabilization, America's general officer corps
did not accurately portray the intensity of the insurgency
to the American public," he writes. "For reasons
that are not yet clear, America's general officer corps underestimated
the strength of the enemy, overestimated the capabilities of
Iraq's government and security forces and failed to provide
Congress with an accurate assessment of security conditions
in Iraq."
Yingling said he decided to write the article after attending
Purple Heart and deployment ceremonies for Army soldiers. "I
find it hard to look them in the eye," he said in an interview. "Our
generals are not worthy of their soldiers."
He said he had made his superiors aware of the article but
had not sought permission to publish it. He intends to stay
in the Army, he said, noting that he is scheduled in two months
to take command of a battalion at Fort Hood, Tex.
The article has been read by about 30 of his peers, Yingling
added. "At the level of lieutenant colonel and below,
it received almost universal approval," he said.
Retired Marine Col. Jerry Durrant, now working in Iraq as
a civilian contractor, agrees that discontent is widespread. "Talk
to the junior leaders in the services and ask what they think
of their senior leadership, and many will tell you how unhappy
they are," he said.
Yingling advocates overhauling the way generals are picked
and calls for more involvement by Congress. To replace today's "mild-mannered
team players," he writes, Congress should create incentives
in the promotion system to "reward adaptation and intellectual
achievement."
He does not criticize officers by name; instead, the article
refers repeatedly to "America's generals." Yingling
said he did this intentionally, in order to focus not on the
failings of a few people but rather on systemic problems.
He also recommends that Congress review the performance of
senior generals as they retire and exercise its power to retire
them at a lower rank if it deems their performance inferior.
The threat of such high-profile demotions would restore accountability
among top officers, he contends. "As matters stand now,
a private who loses a rifle suffers far greater consequences
than a general who loses a war," he states.
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