Is this the hallmark of media turning American again? Yes, yes, I know it's just an op-ed, but they printed it....
Am I seeing things?
In case yer disinclined to read right down to the end of this piece, here's the punchline :
If President-elect Obama wants to reverse this trend, he must take four steps -- and very quickly:
1. Direct -- or, better yet, order -- Gates, Jones, Blair and the other military leaders in his Cabinet to rid the Pentagon's lower ranks of Rumsfeld holdovers whose only mission is to increase the power of the Pentagon.
2. Turn Gates's speeches on the need to promote soft power into reality with a massive transfer of funds from the Pentagon to the State Department, the Justice Department and USAID.
3. Put senior, respected civilians -- not retired or active military personnel -- into key subsidiary positions in the intelligence community and the National Security Council.
4. Above all, he should let his appointees with military backgrounds know swiftly and firmly that, under the Constitution, he is their commander, and that he will not tolerate the well-rehearsed lip service that the military gave to civilian agencies and even President Bush over the past four years.
In short, he should retake the government before it devours him and us -- and return civilian-led government to the people of the United States.
Thomas A. Schweich served the Bush administration as ambassador for counter-narcotics in Afghanistan and deputy assistant secretary of state for international law enforcement affairs.
Am I dreaming? Hello? Is it Christmas?
Here, flesh this out a little, why doncha....
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