More the point.... We have civilian control of the military. Lots of factors go into starting and finishing a war. I remember being PO'd that Bush 1 walked away and did not march into Bagdad. Why did he not listen to the generals??
After a month of trump... I finally understand Bush.... the liberal world order (you can't just go an invade a country) is precious. The further we get from WWII.... the fewer people understand what that cost and why the US role in maintaining the liberal world order is indispensable. Trump's generals know this Anyway... they get to manage all of his bluster and BS while teaching the old guy... some post war history. One of them walked away from Trumps offer.... Thankfully the new guy seems to be a pro and demanded his own staff (no Fox TV hacks please)
As to the wisdom of the generals... Well... it depends on which general... the one who told bush II.... it would take 300 K troops and got retired?... or the generals who agreed that they could take over a country with a 100k and F'd it up for decades?
How about the current generals? the jury is still out. Lets see what the bottom line was on the Yemen catastrophe... Did the generals green light an opp to give Trump a macho win? Did the generals just have a hi risk/reward tolerance than Obama and his team would have. Does the fubar cost the US blood and treasure down the road for the big fail of an operation that it seems to have been? Is the cost of the opp just the loss of life and equipment or prestige and power in the region? (carter's failed rescue opp made us look weak... reagans walk away from lebanon military barack bombing made us look weak)
Clearly a mixed bag... Just because they have lots of stars... does not make them all knowing. The most famous general out of iraq is on probation because he wanted a block buster biography from his mistress so he could pretend to be Eisenhower or Grant.
My take home... we pay a fortune for the military that we have... we need them to be forward leaning...We don't need snowflakes... so we need to use them to further US interest when hard power is needed. we also need a civilian check on the generals... and as the current NSC guy notes... we need generals to tell politicians where to go when needed (viet nam).
