"...I could do more good for my soldiers and their families out of uniform"

Let's see the Fox News gasbags and the trashmouths in the right call General John R.S. Batiste "anti-American":

Oh, they will. They will call him a traitor, and a "cut-and-runner", the same way they likened Max Cleland -- a man who left three out of his four limbs in Vietnam -- to Osama Bin Laden in 2002. They will call him a "cut-and-runner" as they have Illinois Senate candidate Tammy Duckworth -- who lost both legs in Iraq.

What's so emotionally wrenching about watching Batiste's testimony is recognizing the degree of discipline and obeisance to authority that is required of these career military men -- and realizing how difficult it must have been for Batiste to decide to turn on his commander-in-chief.

If this were the kiind of banana dictatorship George W. Bush seems determined to turn it into, we would be seeing a military coup in this country. But that's not the way our military operates. Instead we have men like Gen. Batiste being willing to sacrifice their careers in order to save their men. We owe him no less than to listen and heed what he has to say.