Senate to consider nominee for Army secretary (10/5/04)
Of course, the nominee has Republican connections.
The White House nominated Harvey for the position on Sept. 14. Harvey, a longtime defense industry executive, has no military experience.
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Observers say the nomination is resented by many service officials and some members of Congress who wonder why the White House would consider installing a new secretary a month prior to the presidential election and in the middle of a war.
The nomination of Harvey for the Army's top position stung many serving officers who want to see Acting Secretary Les Brownlee fill the position. Brownlee, who has been acting secretary for 16 months, is a highly decorated Vietnam veteran with years of experience working in defense issues on Capitol Hill and is widely respected by members and staff of both parties.
As with everything else in this administration, ideology trumps policy, and subservience trumps competence. And screw the military, who cares what they think if we can have a toady in the slot.
On a side note, I'm not a huge squawker about the "chickenhawk" phenomenon except for the murky light it sheds on their personalities --they want to move armies around on a Risk gameboard but don't think experience in battle would be a resume-sweetner. I find it bizarre that all these Republican civilians working in the Pentagon and defense firms have no military experience. It's just a strange psychological phenomenon to me. Why would all these people who had never worn a uniform be interested in military as a career? If you wanted to be a mucky muck in the military, don't you think that fighting in the wars you had the opportunity to fight in while a young man would be a good career move? Apparently not if you're a Republican.
It's just baffling to me why these people would avoid military service (or at least not volunteer when there was a volunteer force), then drag their asses to the Pentagon to get a job.
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