I listened to a good chunk of NPR’s On Point this AM which had several former high level military men, Zbigniew Brzezinski, and another guest (a former ambassador). I just wanted to write a quick summary of my thoughts here, mostly in reaction to the various callers calling into the show.

How someone does something matters as much as what they do. The how has consequences. While I also appreciate Fallon’s ultimate point, and as much as I would like to avoid war in Iran, keep a short pause in the drawdown in Iraq, and generally agree with the sentiment of Fallon’s comments, what he did was wrong. It doesn’t change anything that I agree with him.

The consequences in this case would be a weakening of civilian control of the military. While he shouldn’t lie, he is required to support the decisions made by his commanders, including the President. I know a lot of left-leaning folks are uncomfortable with the uniformity of opinion that seems to come from the Pentagon, but the folks in the chain of command have two choices. Take the issue up with their commander or resign. Once they’re out, they can speak their mind, but not in uniform. The two retired military guests on the show made the same point and said basically the same thing.

As much as I disagree with the President, I don’t want to see a situation where military commanders take their disagreements public in order to put pressure on the President to do what they want.