Fred Kaplan writes (as always) an informative article with pertinent details that don't make into most MSM discussions of Iraq and other military matters.
The Good
According to Kaplan, the new General in charge of Iraq set to replace Gen. Casey is David Petraeus whom Kaplan implies is best-suited for the job.
The Bad
There isn't much he can do.
What struck me is this quote:
I am not one who likens the Iraq war to Vietnam, but there is an eerie parallel to a memo that John McNaughton, Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara's closest aide, sent to him on March 24, 1965, after it seemed clear that the Rolling Thunder bombing campaign was producing scant results. "The situation in Vietnam is bad and deteriorating," McNaughton wrote. The important aim now is to "avoid a humiliating U.S. defeat (to our reputation as a guarantor)." Therefore, it is essential "that the U.S. emerge as a 'good doctor.' We must have kept promises, been tough, taken risks, gotten bloodied, and hurt the enemy very badly."....
...It took another decade and 50,000 American lives to concede what McNaughton (who, soon after that meeting, died in an airplane crash) had realized just one year into the fighting. In the quite likely, lamentable event that Bush's surge doesn't work, let's hope that today's leaders accept the reality more quickly.
When will the warmongers ever wake up to reality?