Quote Originally Posted by Eden View Post
That's sort of my point. McChrystal works for Petraeus - technically - at least when he's not wearing his NATO hat. And Petraeus is the strategic commander, while McChrystal is working at the operational level. If anybody should be articulating the military strategy for Afghanistan, it should be Petraeus. It's as if Omar Bradley was spokesman for our strategy to beat the Nazis in 1944.

I mean, Petraeus was front man for the Surge in Iraq. By most accounts he performed well in that role. Has he been cut out of the picture because the current administration wants McChrystal to be the poster child for Afghan strategy? Or because he is too closely associated in the public mind with Iraq and/or the Bush administration? Or because we've completely lost the bubble on the difference between strategy, operations, and tactics? Or because he doesn't fully agree with the proposed solutions?

Really, I'm just curious, because it seems odd that he has fallen so completely off the radar scope.

The way I understand it, GEN McChrystal was directly tasked by the Pentagon/White House to prepare his report on the situation in Afghanistan. It went through CENTCOM then to the Pentagon, where his resource requests will be reviewed. I would imagine if there are any significant disagreements between Petraeus/McChrystal they're being worked out before anything is submitted.

I'm sure GEN Petraeus knows there is nothing to be gained by standing in the way of communications between the administration and its theater commander. It's been that way since at least 2007, when Bush stopped trusting what he was hearing from the Pentagon/Tampa and wanted to speak directly to the CG in Iraq. The theater commanders were essentially functioning as GCCs, with direct communications between Baghdad and the Pentagon/White House. When Admiral Fallon got involved it only complicated things, pissed everyone off and made it harder for Petraeus to do his job.

Add to that reports/rumors of tension with the Obama administration during its early days over Odierno and Petraeus's attempt to talk Obama out of the 16-month withdrawal plan for Iraq, and he's probably smart to keep his head down right now.

It's consistent with the way he's treating Iraq, as well. When is the last time you have seen him say anything about Iraq since the aforementioned discussions on withdrawal timelines? Exactly. He trusts his generals and recognizes there's nothing to be gained by taking a public role in these discusisons.