It appears to me that the "Generals" at "Hudson on the Potomac" have decided to take their "we want more troops" in Afghanistan directly to the American people and Congress thru the front page of the Washington Post this McChrystal: More Forces or 'Mission Failure' by none other than Mr Watergate himself, and lest we forget the cheerleader for the original Bush war strategy, wasn't his first three books supporting President Bush and General Petraeus's surge and the necessity for invading Iraq in the place.
I believe Bob Woodward waited until the 4th book before he questioned the sanity of the Iraq War. How many millions of dollars had Mr Woodward made from cheer leading for the Bush Administration in the early years of the Bush Administration?
I think it is total bullshit for the Pentagon to leak this report to the Washington Post, or Bob Woodward or anyone else. This is a in your face to the Obama Administration saying you will do it our way, because we are going to publicly shame you into it. The Generals get what the Generals want, they don't have Rumsfeld to shit on them any longer or to keep the from getting better assignments, or more stars. I do not believe Secretary Gates interviews all Flag Officers being promoted to 2 stars or above, I think he knows itis a military function and for the Senate to either confirm or deny the additional stars.
The military should NOT be political, but the past eight years have taken it to heights of political expedience never seen in the past 230 years. Generals now must know how to do the military 2 step and the Potomac 2 step and how to whisper in the right year, plus which reporter you need to leak secrets to, in order to force the White House and Capitol Hill to advance your personal agenda.
What happened to the day when Generals did what was right for the nation, Generals like Patton, I.D White, PX Kelley, Barry McCaffrey, Wes Clark, General William Depuy , retired Army Maj. Gen. John Batiste, Marine Corps Gen. Anthony Zinni, former commander of US forces in the Middle East and Central Asia, blames Rumsfeld for a "series of disastrous mistakes.",
Writing in the New York Times, Army Maj. Gen. Paul Eaton accused the Defense secretary of "ignoring the advice of seasoned officers and denying subordinates any chance for input.... I have seen a climate of groupthink become dominant and a growing reluctance by experienced military men and civilians to challenge the notions of the senior leadership." General Eaton was in charge of training Iraqi forces from 2003 to 2004.
Colin Powell, former secretary of state and Joint Chiefs chairman, said in a speech last week. "We didn't have enough troops on the ground. We didn't impose our will. As a result an insurgency got started, and it got out of control."
In this, Powell echoed former Army chief of staff Gen. Eric Shinseki, who told Congress just weeks before the 2003 invasion that several hundred thousand US troops would be necessary to secure Iraq after the invasion. For this he was publicly contradicted by then Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz. Rumsfeld named General Shinseki's replacement a year before he was to retire and broke custom by not attending his retirement ceremony.
These statements came from this Christian Science Monitor Artiicle dated April 14, 2006 the difference is these Generals had retired when they went public and spoke openingly and on the record, identified, not as "anonymous sources" that are attempting to blind side the President of the United States, these are all "honorable men" say what you will about Colin Powell, and his UN Speech in the run up to the war, but I will bet that there is no man alive that regrets allowing his credibility to be ruined by the Bush Administration and the sales job they used him in to sell a "bogus product" the Rumsfeld war that was fouught on the cheap, and placed the troops in harms way unnecessarily, as Rummy put it that day in Iraq or was it Kuwait, you go to war with the Army you have not the Army you want"
Again another totally Bullshit statement, in a war of choice as Iraq was you have plenty of time to gather the men and equipment you want and NEED, armor for Humvess, personal body armor, enough M16 rounds .223 for the soldiers to fight with, not in the first few months, have to buy ammunition the American military forces they needed for combat from the Isreali Army, as was done years ago. How do you go to war without enough ammunition for the main personal weapons the soldiers carry? The stupidity of the Rumsfeld Pentagon leaves me breathless and scratching my head.
Now, I see a politcal attack from the Pentagon by "Generals" who want to ramp up the Afghanistan/Pakistan war, just as we are winding down the Iraq war, and are now demanding that Congress and the White House to give the "Generals" everything they want, why, the previous administration ignored Generals quite easily, despite their BS we have to listen to the Generals and give them everything they ask for, as they are the professionals.
Before Bush made General Petraues the poster boy for Generals, and his face of the "surge" Rumsfled, Cheney and Bush ignored the flag officers at will.
So now we have a campaign by the Pentagon chair warmers, and other Generals between Centcom and Afpak commands to "PUSH" the White House into compliance with their wants.
I pity the fool if they ever find out who leaked the "McChrystal Plan" to Bob Woodward. This is a crime punishable by the UCMJ, and I hope they slap the book at him or her, if they do determine who did it.
We have been in Afghanistan now since October 2001, the mission was to "get Osama Bin Ladin, Al Qaeda and the Taliban" the Bush Administration failed, and after 8 years I don't see us accomplishing that mission anytime soon. I don't care if General McChrystal asks for 500,000 more troops, it's not going to happen in Afghanistan.
We have aircraft carriers, satellites, SEALS, Special Forces, and drones, we can keep looking for him cheaper using these assets, tell the Pentagon to start preparing to withdraw all troops from Kabul and the rest of the nation, where we have dug semi pernanent bases, show the Afghani's it's time for them to step up and deal with the Taliban on their own, do a " Afghan version of the Sunni awakening" pay them to do what they are should be doing anyway, self protection.
I would then call all of the nations 3 and 4 star flag officers to the Pentagon for a one day summit, and just let them know that whomever is the next bastard to leak a Presidential Finding before the President has had time to digest it, and run it past the National Security Council for their recommendations, will be reduced to a permanent Colonel O6 for retirement purposes, and the door will hit them in the ass before they can finish attempting to rationalize their actions.
If General Petraeus is using his position as former Commander of Iraq and now Centcom as Commander of both wars since they are in Centcoms sphere of activity, Centcom is now the new NATO equal stature as a fourth star position. NATO used to be the best job for a 4 star, now it is Centcom if you can't be the Chief of Staff, the most prestigious job. As Orwell pointed out years ago "not all pigs are created equal"
The republican party wants to run General Petraeus in 2012 against President Obama, they see their next Ike in David Petraues, me I don't I see a very political military person, who doesn't care who gets squashed in the process. Accountability is for others.
I think this is just the first opening in the future battles between the Pentagon and 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.