Quote Originally Posted by carl dick View Post
What did the 60 minutes story teach Americans? That it is all the General's fault. There are no other federal agencies involved (or held accountable). That military action is always bad. (We professionals know that there are other civilian agencies deeply involved, but no real responsibly is attached by the media and to Americans who are never reminded that foreign effort is a "Whole of Government" approach, as it should be.
Link to 60 Minutes piece: http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?...in;cbsCarousel

One first view last night - and that only because I was watching the football game that preceded it - I thought they were confronting Gen Odierno with a litany of as yet unsolved problems that were not his to solve. For his part, "not my problem" (or even a more carefully worded variation, say, acknowledging the difficulties confronting State and USAID) was not part of Gen Odierno's response. (Or at least the televised version thereof.)

Such responses - accurate or not (and in this case it would have been) are frequently reported as blame shifting, finger pointing, and buck-passing, (I believe the media term is "juicy story") so perhaps (and I have no insight into his previous experience or thinking - I'm speculating) he chose not to point that out. Or maybe he failed to realize that what's obvious to him from his every minute of experience over the past years is not so obvious to others. Or perhaps he feels "ownership" to a greater degree than most well-informed observers of (or participants in) our Iraq endeavor would expect. As for what more casual observers who caught that interview following the football game last night took away from it, I can think of many possibilities - sadly few based on "increased understanding."

On the other hand, here's a recent comment from Secretary Gates

Gates lamented that the State Department and USAID can't seem to get enough money from Congress to fulfill its mission, especially when it comes to the U.S. presence in Iraq.

"We are making a transition to a civilian-led process [in Iraq], but the Congress took a huge whack at the budget that the State Department submitted for this transition," Gates said.

"It reminds me of the last scene in Charlie Wilson's War."
Back when the surge began, one of the great anti-surge talking points was the solution is only 20 percent military - that from folks who had become instant experts in counterinsurgency. Apparently that was disposable knowledge.