Ironic how Petraeus is now charged with setting conditions for success in Afghanistan when no one in the current administration was willing to condemn moveon.org for the be-tray-us piece in the NYT. If there's one thing this administration has proven is there are a lot better folks out there than them.
Stop listening to Rush, Drudge and Lowry . . . they just make people stupider. Always check their "facts". Moreover, in a June 30, 2008 speech reported on by The Hill. And in a July 1, 2008 Wall Street Journal article . . .
Red - I understand your defensiveness, but I'm not in a position to listen to limbaugh or read drudge daily, and i have no idea who lowry is. Obama voted for an amendment by boxer, not the original bill. The moveon ad was in Sept 2007; his speech didn't occur until June 2008. Biden and Clinton are still no-shows. Now, I will give O (technically Gates) credit for getting rid of McChrystal; he didn't have a choice. No doubt McChrystal is a great American, but I personally had issues with his intergrity after the Tillman affair. Even you, however, have to see the irony of relying on Petraeus. The Bush admin was right in appointing Petraeus, but they shafted him by making him the face of the surge with no political backing. In other words, Petraues became the de facto political voice for Iraq, a position military dudes shouldn't be in.
Rush first said that Obama never criticized Move-on, which was a lie that was exposed. Later Drudge and Lowry took it up and it had to be exposed as a lie once again. Then you saw it somewhere and posted it again, so I was forced to expose it as a lie. I do that a lot around here. People will post anything they hear and expect it to be believed without checking the facts. I check the facts a lot. You'll get used to it. Then the statement that "no one in the current administration was willing to condemn moveon.org for the be-tray-us piece in the NYT" is absolutely false. Obama voted minutes earlier for an alternative resolution by Sen. Boxer. That resolution condemned the MoveOn ad as an "unwarranted personal attack," but also condemned political attack ads that questioned the patriotism of Sen. John Kerry and former Sen. Max Cleland, both highly decorated Vietnam veterans. Then the statement that "no one in the current administration was willing to condemn moveon.org for the be-tray-us piece in the NYT" is absolutely false. Obama voted on 9/20/2007 along with the rest of the senate and stayed consistent in his message throughout his campaign. Well, I don't follow you here. Petraeus was the CinC of Central Command. Theatre commanders have a political responsibility and always have, especially in counter-insurgency warfare, and Petraeus wrote the book on it. His plan to engage the Sunni chieftains turned the thing around in Iraq, but he wasn't forced by Bush to assume this role, it is his by reason of his command. Politics are part and parcel of counter-insurgency warfare.
It took O 8-9 months to condemn moveon? He abstanined on the first vote, voted for the boxer amendment which did not even mention Petraeus. My kind of stand-up guy. There are certain responsibilities GCCs have, which include being politically sensitive. However, at no time should GCCs be the face of an administration's policy; he gets told what needs to be accomplished, and he does it. He and anyone else serve at the discretion of the president and congress, for that matter. The Bush administration did not come to his aid when he testified before congress in 2007, and Petraeus was treated pretty damn crappy during that hearing. Petraeus didn't write the book on COIN; he blew the dust off the playbook, so to speak. Now, I will tell you Petraeus may look and act like a seasoned statesman, and he is, but he is also very ambitious. Oh, GCC is geographical combatant commander.
Actually, he continued to condemn moveon in a major political speech 10 months after he voted to condemn them in the Senate. Not true at all. I have no idea what you are talking about. Eisenhower was the face of Roosevelts policy in Europe and MacArthur was in the Pacific. Westmoreland was the face of Johnson's policy in Vietnam. Ditto Ridgeway in Korea, Swartzkopf in Kuwait, and Petraeus in Iraq. CinC's are very political jobs military jobs. No, he literally wrote the book. [ame="http://www.amazon.com/Counterinsurgency-Field-Manual-Intelligence-Ring-bound/dp/1422008517/ref=cm_lmf_tit_2"]Counterinsurgency Field Manual - U.S. Army Field Manual on Tactics, Intelligence, Host Nation Forces, Airpower - Petraeus and Amos[/ame] It's Geographic Combatant Commander and its only the new title for a Theatre Commander in Chief.
