The generals in the media

With General David Petraeus poised to deliver a report on progress in the war against insurgents in Iraq, this quotation, courtesy of the Lucianne.com News Forum is apt. It dates to 1863, and comes from General Robert E. Lee of Virginia.

It appears we have appointed our worst generals to command forces, and our most gifted and brilliant to edit newspapers. In fact, I discovered by reading newspapers that these editor/geniuses plainly saw all my strategic defects from the start, yet failed to inform me until it was too late. Accordingly, I am readily willing to yield my command to these obviously superior intellects, and I will, in turn, do my best for the Cause by writing editorials — after the fact.

Also appropriately, Lee did not glorify war: “It is well that war is so terrible — we would grow too fond of it.”

(Hat tip: Trevor Wensley.)