Posted on 06/26/2010 10:07:23 AM PDT by SunkenCiv
David Petraeus is the real Pope of counter-insurgency and if he decides that he needs more troops and more time and more resources in Afghanistan next year, who is going to be able to gainsay him? That's Thomas P. Barnett's shrewd assessment. Obama's pledge to start withdrawing troops in 2011 is now kaput... It really is Vietnam -- along with the crazier and crazier rationales for continuing it. But it is now re-starting in earnest ten years in, dwarfing Vietnam in scope and longevity. One suspects there is simply no stopping this war machine, just as there is no stopping the entitlement and spending machine... now we have the real kool-aid drinker, Petraeus, who will refuse to concede the impossibility of success in Afghanistan just as he still retains the absurd notion that the surge in Iraq somehow worked in reconciling the sectarian divides that still prevent Iraq from having a working government... Obama will run for re-election with far more troops in Afghanistan than Bush ever had -- and a war and occupation stretching for ever into the future, with no realistic chance of success. Make no mistake: this is an imperialism of self-defense... continuing this struggle will actually increase and multiply the terror threats we face -- as it becomes once again a recruitment tool for Jihadists the world over... Maybe this is why you supported Obama -- to see the folly of nation-building extended indefinitely to the least promising wastelands on earth, as the US heads toward late-imperial bankruptcy. It is not a betrayal as such. But it is, in my view, a huge and metastasizing mistake.
(Excerpt) Read more at andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com ...
Wow! Sullivan really is a major league Clymer!
Throats? You are one sick puppy, Albion. Now, I need some brain bleach.
;^)
http://atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/LE04Ak01.html
Memo to heads of state: beware the clever general who turns up at a tough moment, and says “Leave it to me: I can fix it for you.” Two examples come to mind. The great field marshal of the Thirty Years War of 1618-1648, Albrecht von Wallenstein, taught armies to live off the land, and succeeded so well that nearly half the people of Central Europe starved to death during the conflict.
General David Petraeus, who heads America’s Central Command (CENTCOM), taught the land to live off him. Petraeus’ putative success in the Iraq “surge” of 2007-2008 is one of the weirder cases of Karl Marx’s quip of history repeating itself first as tragedy second as farce. The consequences will be similar, that is, hideous.
Unfortunately, I fear everyone’s expectations of what Petraeus will be able to accomplish are misplaced.
He IS being set up to fail and be scapegoated by Obama. The reason is that, no matter how great his ability, the Afghanistan war is unwinnable as it is currently being formulated and undertaken. It is the wrong war, in the wrong place, against the wrong people, for the wrong reasons. Moreover, Obama, and the powerful interests running him, don’t want the US to win - their plans require a humiliating defeat for America and our military.
In order to even have a chance of avoiding a disastrous defeat, not only must the tactics, strategy and ROEs be changed, the mission itself must be drastically redefined. Obama is not going to allow that unless he is forced to it.
Petraeus has only a very narrow window of opportunity to do this, and the only way he can force Obama’s hand is go public with whatever promises many here seem to believe he extracted in order to take the job. If he doesn’t make them public within a matter of a few days or weeks, even by provoking a PR confrontation with Obama, then those promises, assurances, guarantees, etc., etc., etc. from Obama don’t mean squat. If he trusted Obama at all, then he, and the troops under his command, are screwed.
*snicker*
“The conspiratorial side of me thinks perhaps David and Stanley may have gone fishing together recently, just the two of them. Stan offers to take the dive and David says he will take the AF job.”
I’m of the same conspiratorial thinking. Wonder what ol’ Stan is up to these days. Didn’t hear anything about loosing any stars, either. Have a feeling it will be an active summer.
General McChrystal’s resignation has shone more of a bad light on the POTUS and his administration than on the General, despite any best efforts by the Dems and the State-Run-Media.
You aren’t alone in seeing through the spin.
The media may “give” Obama the credit for any success in Afghanistan, that is if there is any credit left over that Obama and company hasn’t taken already, should the General succeed.
Obama’s glaring ineptitude as POTUS already has put the lie to that claim. General Petraeus is coming in to attempt to rectify the results of that ineptitude. Anything the Dems might do to thwart his efforts will be seen as further ineptitude on their part.
If the General is successful, it will be a win for our troops and allies, the Afghan people, the United States of America, and freedom. Who cares if a bunch of proven liars takes credit? Anyone with half a brain will know the truth of the matter, and the benefit of the victory outweighs their false claims.
We need to be on our knees to God in repentance and supplication, as individuals and as a nation, for Him to bless the General, our troops, and the whole situation to keep them within His providential care and guidance. May good prevail, and to God be the glory.
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