Best Defense
Thomas E. Ricks' daily take on national security.

Just when I think I’ve been too harsh on Montgomery, I read something like this

Best Defense is in summer reruns. Here is an item that originally ran on October 26, 2015.

montgomery_e010786478-v8
montgomery_e010786478-v8

 

 

Best Defense is in summer reruns. Here is an item that originally ran on October 26, 2015.

Sometimes I think I have judged General Bernard Montgomery too harshly. After all, I think, he’s the top British military hero of World War II.

Then I come across something like this, in the diaries of the British journalist and literary critic Malcolm Muggeridge:

“January 16, 1951: Went to see Monty…. Monty, on the whole, in excellent form — delighted that Eisenhower now has blood pressure, some sort of pain in his shoulder, and has had to give up smoking, and rather pleased that the Americans have done so badly in Korea.”

That last sentence really bothered me. It is one thing to feud with Ike. It is another to revel in ally’s troubles.

Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons/Library and Archives Canada

Thomas E. Ricks covered the U.S. military from 1991 to 2008 for the Wall Street Journal and then the Washington Post. He can be reached at ricksblogcomment@gmail.com. Twitter: @tomricks1

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