Posted on 08/18/2007 6:41:34 PM PDT by pacelvi
Americans doubt ‘General Betraeus’ over troop surge
General David Petraeus is facing a backlash ahead of his report to Congress on the progress of America's troop surge
Sarah Baxter
AFTER being hailed as King David, the potential saviour of Iraq, the US commander General David Petraeus is facing a backlash in advance of his report to Congress in September on the progress of America’s troop surge.
Critics, including one recently retired general, are privately calling him “General Betraeus” on the grounds that he is too ambitious to deliver a balanced report on the war.
Lawrence Korb, a defence official under Ronald Reagan who is now at the Center for American Progress, a Democratic think tank, said Petraeus was regarded as “the most political general since General [Douglas] Mac-Arthur”, a reference to the second world war hero who was touted as a possible president.
Opponents of the troop surge believe that President George W Bush has been hiding behind Petraeus’s reputation for too long. “The president says the surge is the ‘Petraeus’ strategy. Petraeus should say, ‘No, I work for the president. This is his strategy’,” said Korb. “He is very ambitious and there’s nothing wrong with that, but his ambition may be used in an inappropriate way.”
Petraeus, who studied at Princeton and co-wrote the US army’s new counter-insurgency doctrine, is widely regarded as one of the brightest soldiers of his generation. He has an impressive grasp of military history - including British operations against 1950s Malayan insurgents and in Northern Ireland during the Troubles - as well as the physical stamina, at 54, to go on regular 10-mile runs with his troops. Barry McCaffrey, a retired four-star general, describes Petraeus as “brilliant”.
One senior military source said Petraeus could be ambitious enough to move into politics one day. But the general would be looking for “bipartisan support” for his strategy in Iraq and was likely to give an accurate picture of progress on the ground.
Frederick Kagan, a military historian at the American Enterprise Institute and advocate of the surge, said Petraeus would deliver an honest assessment: “Even if it were true that he is too ambitious, and I don’t agree with that, if he makes some compromise that leads to failure in this conflict, that’s not in his interest at all.” According to a poll by CNN/Opinion Research Corp on Friday, 53% of Americans believe the report will try to make the situation in Iraq sound more favourable than it is. Only 43% said they trusted the US commander to give an objective picture.
Adding to suspicions, the report - based on recommendations by Petraeus and Ryan Crocker, the US ambassador to Iraq - will be written by White House staff. But both men will testify in public before Congress.
The report is expected to highlight progress in Anbar province and only patchy success in restoring order to Baghdad.
Crocker is said to have almost given up trying to persuade Nouri Al-Maliki, the Iraqi prime minister, to come to a political accommodation with the Sunnis and is concentrating his efforts on wooing tribal sheikhs.
Petraeus and his second-in-command, General Ray Odierno, are seeking sufficient support to continue the surge until April. Odierno said last Friday that plans were under way to reduce troops to presurge levels by August 2008. By then the US presidential election will be only three months away and the White House is hoping to take some of the political sting out of the war.
Yeah every single person in the UK is terrible. /s
That is disgusting.
And besides, everyone knows that General Betray-us is John Murtha.
(Not to toot a little bit, but I did post that here a month or so ago. Scummy trolls, they are.)
This is not news, it’s not even an proper editorial or opinion piece... it’s sheer and squeaky slanderous propaganda.
Liberals here have been trashing him since they approved him.
i direct my disgust at their media...where it is deserved...
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus
Remind me again why we saved Europe’s bacon in WWI, WWII and the cold war? Somebody?
Only Leftists and especially US-hating UK leftists want to pre-doubt the General’s report before it is written.
I’m wondering what the spread would be if they polled only registered voters...and THEN after they hear what the general has to say in September.
Could the surge be working SO MUCH that the UK newspapers are like Hilter in the bunker?
They are so shrill!
Good point. This was a Media drive by shooting. They are fearful and want to make sure that the general mood is jaded and cynical. Hope and confidence are words that do not exist in the liberal lexicon. F’em all
Perhaps a non-political, unambitious bloke like Wesley Clark.
That is an especially bad Headline and in the Times too!
What a bunch of .... I can’t think of anything bad enough to say about people like the author of this piece that wouldn’t go against everything I believe is permissible to say in a public forum.
We don’t want or need a ‘balanced’ report. We want and need honest, accurate one.
As long as we are nominating candidates for the "Benedict Arnold" award, let us not forget Wes Clark. In the category of politically motivated smarmy butt boy is without equal.
Regards,
GtG
As I commented on the UK Times website for this article, “Ms. Baxter’s drone of defeatism is becoming quite droll.”
This article is absolutely breathtaking. The MSM just keeps getting more appalling each day. I didn’t know that was even possible. The surge looks like it’s working and the Democratic congress is an impotent joke so the left is crapping itself that Hitlary won’t become president. Listen “The Times”, Clinton’s foreign policy legacy of appeasment was a joke and you want another Clinton appeasing the psychomullahs who are about to have nukes. Go back to writing for leftist college rags. That’s all The Times journalists are good for.
As long as we are nominating candidates for the "Benedict Arnold" award, let us not forget Wes Clark. In the category of politically motivated smarmy butt boy he is without equal.
Regards,
GtG
Haahahaaaa! Does anybody really need to read any further what this simple scumbag Sarah Baxter has to say?
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