Alexander Haig, former US Secretary of State, dies in hospital aged 85
20th February 2010
The way you get to be a colonel is by being a good soldier. The way you get to be a general is by being a good politician. Everybody in the officer corps of the United States soon learns this.
There remains a distinction, however, between generals who become even better soldiers (Douglas MacArthur, George Patton, Creighton Abrams, Norman Schwarzkopf, Tommy Franks, David Petraeus) and those who phone-in the soldier part and concentrate on becoming better politicians (Dwight Eisenhower, William Westmoreland, Colin Powell, Wesley Clark, Alexander Haig). The latter are a serious danger to our Republic, but unfortunately their chosen career path gives them the inside track to success in an increasingly political world.