BrigGen Dana Born, Dean of the US Air Force Academy, has announced her intention to retire in the summer of 2013.

Ordinarily, such a move wouldn’t be newsworthy.  However, Gen Born has been under constant attack by Michael Weinstein — aided by his veritable PR arm, Pam Zubeck of the Colorado Springs Independent — for several years.  Zubeck, who has long had sources on the USAFA faculty eager to undermine their own institution, “scooped” even the official US military announcement of Born’s retirement, and she did so without attempting to hide her bias:

Brig. Gen. Dana Born, one of the most controversial figures at the Air Force Academy, will announce her intentions to retire within 24 hours, according to a source that did not want to be named.
 
Born came to the academy amid the sexual assault scandal in 2004 and has been a lightning rod of controversy on several fronts…

The narrow-thinking Zubeck supported her “most controversial” description with a list of three “scandals” involving Gen Born — all linked to Zubeck’s irascible friend, Michael Weinstein.

By contrast, the Associated Press article on the same subject, while mentioning one public controversy around General Born, also notes those who praised her work.

Zubeck’s article in the CSIndy was also notable for the comments it generated.  Defenders of Gen Born included cadets — both current and former — as well as Col Richard Fullerton, who was the Vice Dean of the Faculty at one point.  On the other side, critics of Gen Born and supporters of Weinstein weighed in, including conspiracy theorist Rick Baker and an active duty Air Force officer.

Of course, it didn’t take long for the critics to turn on the defenders, with one USAFA critic trying to silence the cadet defending Gen Born by implying he needed permission to comment.  That insinuation couldn’t be further from the truth, but truth can be inconvenient for those with a vendetta against human liberty.  Similarly, David Mullin — a former USAFA instructor nursing a grudge — used the comments section to go after both Gen Born and Col Fullerton.

Comments from Gen Born’s defenders indicate some facts may be becoming more common knowledge:

Mr. Weinstein has long since held a vendetta against the US Air Force Academy. His dramatic rants include blaming fundamentalist Christians for forcing Nidal Malik Hasan over the edge, resulting in the Fort Hood incident. He has remained hostile against the smallest of things…