Who's to blame at the BFD?

In his column in today's Globe, Kevin Cullen makes the very reasonable point that not all Boston firefighters are bad eggs. But he also says this: "Blaming most firefighters for the state of the department is like blaming American soldiers for the mess in Iraq."

Really? Because from what I've been reading in the Globe, it seems like the BFD brass are trying to whip the "bad systems" Cullen mentions into shape, while the firefighters' union--led by Ed Kelly--is fighting to preserve the status quo. Which doesn't seem to parallel Iraq at all.