To the editor:

Given the tragic quagmire in Iraq, it is troubling that the Dole Institute of Politics at Kansas University should have selected Gen. Richard Myers to give this year’s Dole Lecture.

There is no question that Gen. Myers has many fine qualities, but as the top military official during the planning for this fiasco, he bears much of the responsibility for the current mess. He was one of a small handful who could have stopped this madness before it began. As described in Woodward’s “State of Denial,” while serving as the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Myers largely abrogated his position as principal military adviser to the president to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.

For instance, in February 2003, Army Chief of Staff Gen. Shinseki spoke about the need for several hundred thousand troops to handle the Iraqi mission. Gen. Shinseki was then severely criticized by the Rumsfeld cabal, and Gen. Myers said nothing. It was only six months after Gen. Myers retired (in 2006) that he felt confident enough to question the wisdom of the “best defense secretary ever.”

Would that Gen. Myers had lived by the credo of Teddy Roosevelt, “Patriotism means to stand by the country. It does not mean to stand by the president or any other public official.”

Ray Finch,

Lawrence