In the private sector, when corporations get into trouble they replace the CEO.  When sports teams repeatedly have a losing season, invariably they replace the coach.  If sales are down, managers are replaced.  Yet in the military today, it's very rare that generals are replaced.  Even in the wake of catastrophic failure.

Esteemed military journalist Thomas Ricks argues in The Generals: American Military Command from World War II to Today, that failures in America's recent wars can be directly traced to failures of those in command. Ricks examines U.S. military leadership from World War Two to the present day, and concludes that the mistakes in Iraq and Afghanistan can be traced to the Army's inability to come to terms with all the lessons of Vietnam and how that continued lack of accountability has shaped the military.

My conversation with Tom Ricks: