Those Grumbling Retired Generals

So, it seems that some retired Generals are grumbling about SecDef Rumsfeld and his (which really means the President's) policies. Paul Merengoff notes:

Griping ex-generals are always with us. President Clinton certainly had his detractors among the military brass, and not just retired brass. If I recall correctly, the MSM tended to attirbute this phenomenon to the neanderthalism within the military. In any case, the existence of griping generals, without more, means little. The "more" is a close analysis of the substance of the griping. This seems largely lacking in the MSM accounts.

Wretchard, Victor Davis Hansen, Rich Lowry and Dafyyd ab Hugh have all attempted to provide some substance. Dafyyd chalks the grumbling up to two things: the generals are mostly men who earned their stars under President Clinton and--more likely to my mind--they have a fundamentally different conception of how to wage war. Wretchard also touches upon this latter point while current JCS Chairman Gen. Peter Pace disputes any sort of muzzling.