We’re already experiencing the novelty of a post-Rumsfeld era at the Pentagon in the form of a Joint Chiefs of Staff that has suddenly found its voice after having been neutered since before our initial invasion of Iraq. The point of view expressed by "the generals" has always been a political scrap to President Bush, tossed out whenever the catapult for propaganda needed repairs, and until now the military had been effectively tied to a board and submerged the moment a flower of dissent appeared to be budding. Careers ended, missions changed, grown men in smart outfits covered with shiny and colorful medals hunched over Rumsfeld’s lap for a spanking, the patronizing "I listen to what the generals on the ground have to say" comment always available to the President, is now more or less a non-factor as the dictator whose paddle he once relied on is no longer there, and in the void that remains, dreaded honesty is expanding.
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