Clark's Gaffe

This is a particularly insightful analysis of the Clark gaffe, which is, by definition, accidentally speaking the truth. I like the "old inter-service rivalry" angle. It's probably quite true, especially when it involve an arrogant ass like McCain.

Interservice rivalries are not nearly as fierce as they once were. One reason is the Goldwater-Nichols reform of 1986, which among other things required officers to serve on a "joint" (i.e., multiservice) command before getting promoted to general. Another has been the experience of the past two decades' wars, especially the ongoing Iraq war, in which the services have conducted joint operations to an unprecedented degree. Finally, the military budgets have lately been large enough for everybody to get what they've wanted: There hasn't been much need for rivalry.

Still, tensions persist. Some soldiers and Marines resent the Air Force and Navy for shouldering so light a burden in Iraq, bearing only 4 percent of the fatalities and 2 percent of the injuries in this war. (See chart below.)