linguist like to argue with (or criticize) non-linguists, too

[James A. Landau]

In a message dated Wed, 5 Jun 2002  7:32:58 AM Eastern Daylight Time, Drew Danielson <andrew.danielson at CMU.EDU> writes:

>See -
>http://ca.news.yahoo.com/020605/5/mum9.html
>
>
>Actually, I have found no evidence that the Lt. Col. Steve Butler who is
>the subject of this article has any background in linguistics, but he's
>getting canned from an academic administration position at the Army's
>Defense Language Institute in Monterey, CA.
>
>Perhaps this is the installation where the Army researches and develops
>it's formidible acronyms?

Wash your mouth out with soap.

The Defense Language Institute, at the Presidio of Monterey, is DOD's school for teaching foreign languages, and from all I have heard it is a highly regarded school.  It traces its origins back to the Army Language School, which was founded in "Word War II" [unconscious typo, too good to correct], long after acronyms had become a long established military/naval tradition.

There is a long tradition in the US armed forces, well known to EVERY serving officer, that soldiers/sailors/airmen do NOT publicly engage in partisan politics.

The Web Page you cited contains the following extremely ill-informed quote:
     "Butler's suspension was apparently based on Article 88 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice, which says that any commissioned officer who uses "contemptuous words" against the president or other senior officials may be punished by a court-martial.
     "The Monterey Herald said that the last Article 88 court-martial came in 1965 when an Army second lieutenant was prosecuted for taking part in an anti-war protest in Texas..."

If the Monterey Herald had bothered to do any research, they would have found that no less a legendary figure than Douglas McArthur had gotten canned by his Commander-in-Chief for shooting his mouth off in public.  Another general, I believe his name was Walker, got canned circa 1962 for partisan politicking (if memory serves, it was for taking John Birch Society positions, so it's not only liberals who get punished.)

Going back to the Civil War, several generals were kicked out of their commands for playing politics: George B. McClellan, Fitz-John Porter (who was court-martialled on a trumped-up charge), John McClernand (publicly criticizing General Grant).  Grant himself almost got fired for a certain anti-Semitic statement, and old War-Is-Hell Sherman got into some Hell of his own for merely making a politically bad guess when the Confederate general facing him offered to surrender.

For a more recent example, President Clinton, during the Lewinsky scandal, ordered a missile attack on al-Qaeda.  There was much controversy over his action, with many civilians saying "he needed this war on terrorism" and "he needed something to hang his presidency on."  (Both these quotes, admittedly out of context, are from LTC Butler's letter.)  Yet did you hear any criticism from active-duty military?  No, even though many in DOD thought it was an ill-conceived project.  They were good soldiers; they kept their mouths shut and let the civilians do the debating.

Or look at it this way: suppose you were the president of a college and some vice-chancellor working for you had such a letter to the editor published.  Wouldn't you wonder if your institution would be better off without him?

LTC Butler knew the rules, and knowingly violated them.  I have no tears for him.

IF Butler had any evidence NOT already in the newspapers that "Bush knew about the impending attacks on America. He did nothing to warn the American people..." then there are channels he could go through, the most obvious of which is to inform his Congresspersons.  As a matter of fact, IF Butler had evidence NOT yet known to the general public, the last thing he should do is to write a letter to the editor.  It can be argued that his patriotic duty would be to tell his Congressperson, not the newspapers.

    - Jim Landau (who thinks that civilian control of the military is a GOOD THING)

P.S.  linguistic note: in the Armed Forces, the word "Monterey" is shorthand for "Defense Language Institute", which, by the way, has the acronym "DEFLANGINST".