General Raymond Odierno is the chief of staff of the United States Army. As such he is the institutional head of the army. He is not the political head of the army. That vestigial role is fulfilled by the civilian Secretary of the Army who is normally a politician of some sort. It is long understood in the United States that active duty army officers, and especially the chief of staff will scrupulously eschew any intervention in political matters.
Odierno appeared today on "Morning Joe" the New York City chat show that reflects the mentality of that most prominent of American "fantasy islands." He had clearly been dispatched there to rail against the sequester, much as Susan Rice was sent to her doom on the morning Sunday newsies. His appearance against the sequester was unfortunate. The resolution for sequestration is a political matter. The chief of staff should not be appearing on national TV (well, MSNBC) seeking to influence a civilian political decision, but he did so. This is a sadly degenerate time in US national life, and any sense of what is appropriate seems to have been lost.
To make matters worse, Zbig's daughter, Mika, pressed Odierno for his views on gun control legislation for the general civilian public. She wanted to know if he favored registration, banning of "assault weapons," etc
The appropriate response for him would have been to say that he had no role in such civilian political matters and would not comment. Instead, he seemed to become confused between 1 - gun control for private ownership within the army and 2 - civilian gun control generally. As a result he ended by seeming to endorse Mika's obsessions.
This man sits in George Marshall's chair? pl
