Third Way Dispatch

[Note: This Dispatch is by Michelle Kobler, a Third Way staffer with deep family ties to Burma.]

It ought to be explained that Burma and I first met when I was a scrawny girl of thirteen. I stepped off the plane at Yangon airport sporting hair down to my waist, a set of pink glasses, a Sony Walkman shoved into my back pocket and only a vague sense of the experiences waiting ahead.

The US Army is crippled.

That was the stark conclusion that could be drawn from the incredible testimony yesterday by Army Chief of Staff George Casey.

But chances are, you missed it. The New York Times, the purported “Paper of Record,” didn’t deem it newsworthy. (They put a short wire story on their website). And The Washington Post buried it in a story about the Pentagon’s request for more money for Iraq. The only print outlet we could find that did it justice was The Boston Globe.

But believe me, the proceedings were extraordinary, beginning with their origins. General Casey wasn’t called to the Hill – he actually asked to testify. This is highly unusual in the best of times, and these days, when high-ranking Pentagon officials anticipate trips to Congress with the joyous anticipation of a colonoscopy, it’s downright unheard of.