Seven retired U.S. generals are second-guessing Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld in public and saying he should be fired for incompetence, and what you can’t help wishing is that they could be reinstated to active duty. Then they could be dishonorably discharged for betrayal of a vital American principle.

The principle is that the people and their elected representatives run the government of this country, not the Army, the Air Force or the Navy. Military officers must therefore be extremely cautious about challenging the civilian leadership of the armed forces.