An Homage to the Brave

Nick Turse has written an article for TomDispatch, called The Fallen Legion: Casualties of the Bush Administration, that is nothing less than a stunning compilation of 42 of the governmental casualties of the Bush administration’s bullshit insistence on loyalty, disregard for reality, and single-minded purpose, no matter how foolish. Some of them are names we’ve heard; many of them are not. They share in common the determination to stand up for what’s right and a fate of excommunication from the administration, whether they were forced out, demoted, or resigned in frustration. They are described as:

the seemingly endless and ever-growing list of beleaguered administrators, managers, and career civil servants who quit their posts in protest or were defamed, threatened, fired, forced out, demoted, or driven to retire by Bush administration strong-arming. Often, this has been due to revulsion at the President's policies -- from the invasion of Iraq and negotiations with North Korea to the flattening of FEMA and the slashing of environmental standards -- which these women and men found to be beyond the pale.

[…]

However defined, the casualties of the Bush administration are legion. The numbers of government careers wrecked, disrupted, adversely affected, or tossed into turmoil as a result of this administration's wars, budgets, policies, and programs is impossible to determine. Although every administration leaves bodies strewn in its wake, none in recent memory has come close to the Bush administration in producing so many public statements of resignation, dissatisfaction, or anger over treatment or policies.

Check it out. A stark contrast to those like Colin Powell, whose careers were more important than their country, and whose attempts to reconcile allegiance with honored service left them disgraced, and excommunicated all the same.