From comments on the brain trust assembled by General Petraeus: some see a repeat of McNamara’s Whiz Kids — long on education, short on real experience — while others see them as scapegoats in waiting:
Oh, great: what better strategy than to say, “don’t call Bush dumb–we sent SEVEN PhDs into Iraq and THEY couldn’t solve it either! So there, you hissy-pissy Bush Bashers!”
It could be spun as, “of course it failed–you had THINKERS and FEELERS in there, instead of solid-steel airtight military minds!”
What better way to further discredit the idea that education is useful for things. “PhDs–hah! They couldn’t win the war in Iraq with PhDs. Don’t gimme any PhD crap. Shoulda turned em into glass in 2003. The PhDs LOST this war! Burn the universities–they’re to blame!”