General Petraeus: collection

[AdamG]

WASHINGTON (AP) — Challenged by a congressman to "be honest" about how long American troops might have to fight in Afghanistan, Army Gen. David Petraeus revealed that he has a personal stake in ensuring that the U.S. war objectives are met — his son, Stephen, whose recent combat tour was kept "very quiet."

In an emotional exchange with Rep.Walter B. Jones, R-N.C., Petraeus said "if I ever felt that we couldn't achieve our objectives," he would be "very forthright" not only with his superiors in the military chain of command but also with President Barack Obama and members of the Congress.

http://www.wtkr.com/news/military/wt...0,702929.story

[Bob's World]

I'll never fully understand why congress always plays the detached role of either cheerleader or victim; depending on where they think the majority of their constituency stands on issues like Iraq and now Afghanistan.

The President defined the Ends; and the military is the means the the president sent to address those ends. The military in turn came up with (surprise) a military solution to the President's Ends; and the Congress then resourced all of the above.

To Congress, please, stop being a detached cheerleader or victim either one, and stand up and take responsibility.

The Ends defined by the President are far too broad and far too tied to one specific region of he globe to be Feasible, Acceptable, or Suitable to the goals of promoting US interests in South Asia, or the more specific interest of protecting the US from AQ inspired acts of terrorism coming out of the greater Middle East.

The Ways derived and being implemented by the Military are wildly disconnected from the Ends identified by the President and for different reasons are equally infeasible, unacceptable and unsuitable to the larger goals as well.

I always have to stop and remind myself that it is the genius of our Constitution that ensures that the US government remains so wonderfully dysfunctional and inefficient so as to keep the President, the Congress and the Military from all deciding some day to gang up on "we the people." But damn, sometimes its frustrating.

Man up Congress. Stop watching the world go by while you wring your hands or wave your pom poms and write rubber checks to pay for it all. The power of the purse is in your hands, but only if you are willing to pull the strings. Instead you write a blank check to USAID and add it to the blank check already given to Defense. Is it any wonder this just keeps getting bigger? Cut some funds, and watch it get smarter instead. Rich people can afford to be wasteful and stupid; people on a budget have to get smart and efficient.

[davidbfpo]

Just located this article, sub-titled on the web version: 'How good a general was David Petraeus?' which was published five weeks ago in The Spectator by Professor Andrew Bacevich:http://www.spectator.co.uk/essays/al...petraeus.thtml

Following my practice he concludes:

In the meantime, however, the infatuation with Petraeus does real harm. It contributes to an abiding American (and perhaps more broadly western) misunderstanding of war. The illusion that generalship determines war’s outcome — call it the cult of the commander — clouds our judgment. We persuade ourselves to think that however disappointing the last war, installing the right general — someone like David Petraeus — will ensure a better outcome next time. It obscures one of history’s central teachings: that war by its very nature is unpredictable and uncontrollable, a leap into the dark certain to yield consequences other than those predicted. Nothing in Petraeus’s record overturns that core truth.

There are other, earlier pithy comments.