Quote Originally Posted by Adrienne View Post
Why should he publicly weigh in? Do we really need every 4-star in the chain of command joining the public debate before senior leadership has clearly articulated our strategy?

It seems like it's probably more a unity of command issue. The war is in the capable hands of GEN McChrystal; what is the benefit of CENTCOM publicly contradicting anything coming from either CJCS or theater?
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.