A 27-member coalition -- Diplomats and Military Commanders for Change* -- is opposing the Bush administration, and does not want his reelection in November, on the grounds that it has not lived up to its responsibilities and "does not understand the world and remains unable to handle 'in either style or substance' the responsibilities of global leadership," according to a buried article** in the Washington Post.

Among the 27 members of the *DMCC are Admiral William J. Crowe, Jr., chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff under the Reagan administration, and Marine General Joseph P. Hoar, "commander in chief" of US CENTCOM during the Bush I administration. Only one of the twenty-seven in the group described himself as affiliated with the Kerry campaign: Ret. Gen. Merrill A. McPeak, who was a "former U.S. Air Force chief of staff and "the Oregon chairman of Republican Robert J. Dole's presidential campaign in 1996" and "joined Veterans for Bush in 2000." In a interview with al Jazeera on the DMCC's criticism of the Bush administration, State Secretary Colin Powell explained things clearly.

"I disagree that the United States is so isolated, as they say," [Powell] told the Qatar-based satellite television network. "I mean, the president has gone to the United Nations repeatedly in order to gain the support of the international community. We are in Iraq with many other nations that are contributing troops. Are we isolated from the Brits, from the Poles, from the Romanians, from the Bulgarians, from the Danes, from the Norwegians?"

It is very telling when a group composed of former envoys, ambassadors, generals, etc. (two of which are named above) goes against an administration that one would think they would endorse, at least implicitly; it is especially illustrative when former members of the Reagan and Bush I administrations are now opposed to that of Bush II. This looks like the beginning of the end for Bush, Rummy & Co. The DMCC's official statement can be found here.

**It's on page A22.