Milton Fogelman Quotes

Written when he was forced to share command with General Francois Kellerman.

Like politicians, business CEOs almost always blame others lower down in the chain for their errors. (Politicians usually blame someone from the opposition of the opposition as a group.)

The relationship between the Embassy and the contractor was so twisted and corrupt that the contractor’s on site manager in Iraq threatened to have Richter killed if he continued to probe into the documents that would incriminate them. In the midst of a war zone where the contractor was responsible for providing armed security for the State department personnel—see the graphic—including Richter, it would have been very easy to arrange. Blackwater then arranged with the embassy to have Richter and another auditor/investigator expelled from Iraq so that they could not complete their entire investigation. The State Department began a complete investigation years later when the press discovered this memo and divulged it.

Typically then and now, members of Congress would have their staffs call Federal officials implying endorsement for constituent companies, and if a contract ensued would imply to the constituent that the member had something to do with it. In some cases, they would pressure the agency to award contracts to their constituents. Douglas had the highest ethical standards and was unique in that he made the calls himself so that he should personally tell the official that there should be no special treatment for his constituent and would personally tell the constituent that other than helping them find Federal business opportunities, he would not be of additional assistance.

This quotation illustrates a political phenomenon that used to be common in American politics—the spoils system where government activities, positions, contracts and grants were awarded to the supporters of the winning party and not to the opponents. In modern times government contracts were supposed to have been awarded on the basis of qualifications and price and not conditioned on political support. In this rare quotation, the secretary admitted to violating his own Department’s regulations and using politics as a criteria where existing laws prohibited that.

Ironically, Lieberman was using this quotation to campaign against Bush’s son, George W. Bush.

Ikle wrote this over a decade before both the military and civilian leaders fell into this trap in the 1994 Iraq War.

MacArthur had been the Commander of our Military Forces in Korea. He had a huge ego, and he wanted to cross the border and attack China since Chinese Troops were aiding the North Vietnamese. He had previously assured the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the President that the Chinese would not send troops into Korea, but he was then wrong. And when they had attacked, they had erased the territorial gains that MacArthur had previously gained. The Joint Chief’s of Staff, the Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of State had decided upon a strategy which this time did not follow MacArthur’s strategic advice. The President approved the strategy, but MacArthur spoke and acted contrary. The President met with MacArthur and reiterated the strategy that the President approved. But MacArthur did not follow the orders of the Joint Chiefs. At the time, he and Eisenhower were America’s two most famous military leaders, and of the two MacArthur was senior and thought that he should be President. After he was fired, MacArthur addressed a Joint Session of Congress and gave his "Old Soldiers Never Die" speech which was his first active step towards the Presidency. It was a very sentimental speech with little content and nothing about why he had disobeyed orders. He was totally shocked when it was Eisenhower who was selected to run for President and not him.