Machiavelli Meets General Lavelle

The Washington Post reports today on the posthumous rehabilitation of Air Force General John D. Lavelle. In 1972, Lavelle was forced to retire with a reduced rank in disgrace for conducting unauthorized bombing missions in North Vietnam, and then covering it up.

Thanks to two articles in 2006 and 2007 in Air Force magazine, it became unequivocally clear that Lavelle had been railroaded, forced to assume responsibility for decisions taken in secret by the Nixon White House and left pinned on him. With the true facts now out, President Obama has asked the Senate to restore his rank.