Word: civilian
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...civilian control of the military so important...
...When you look back at the firing of General [Douglas] MacArthur, President Truman writes in his memoir that civilian control of the military "is one of the strongest foundations of our system of free government. Many of our people are descended from men and women who fled their native countries to escape the oppression of militarism." The importance of it really comes from the founding of our nation, [similar to] the separation of church and state...
...That route is the only choice: driving north through Iraq from the Persian Gulf is too dangerous. As one flies into Arbil, the sole sign of war is the airport's heavy security. Kurdish soldiers - or peshmerga, as they are known - sit in tall watchtowers along the perimeter, and civilian vehicles may not enter the airport gates, where baggage searchers wear ski masks to hide their faces. Flights from the new Kurdistan Airlines and other carriers arrive directly from Istanbul, Frankfurt, Dubai and Beirut. Austrian Airlines officials have agreed the company will be the first European airline...
Open revolts by the top military brass against their civilian minders are rare but not unprecedented. General MacArthur objected to Harry Truman's handling of the Korean War and was fired in 1951. The Air Force didn't like the way Lyndon Johnson handpicked bombing targets during the Vietnam War. And Bill Clinton had to back down after he ordered the Pentagon to openly admit homosexuals in 1993 by settling on the narrower "Don't ask, don't tell" policy...
While the military's reproach is the most remarkable, it follows some public criticism of Rumsfeld from the civilian side of the Administration that seems to signal he is no longer feared. Last month, Condoleezza Rice acknowledged "tactical errors, thousands of them" in the conduct of the war. That remark, which Rice later characterized as a figure of speech, led Rumsfeld to respond, "I don't know what she was talking about, to be perfectly honest." And though he bears some responsibility for overstating the case for war before the invasion, Powell took aim at his old rival Rumsfeld...