EJ Dionne Jr.: Assembly of Vipers

[marmar]

from Truthdig:


By E.J. Dionne

WASHINGTON—Rep. Chet Edwards, a middle-of-the-road Texas Democrat who numbers President Bush among his constituents, did not judge the commander in chief’s words about Iraq on Wednesday night through the lens of his party affiliation or personal predispositions.

His standard was set by an Army officer who sent the congressman a powerfully honest, thoughtful and sophisticated 3,800-word memo based on the soldier’s experiences in Iraq.

With eloquence and urgency, the officer—Edwards said he had agreed not to disclose his identity—showed how the most important battles in Iraq are not military but political. The officer worries that, despite the heroic efforts of our troops, this aspect of the mission is not going well.

After receiving the soldier’s permission, Edwards shared the memo with me on the day of the president’s speech. The congressman was not trying to score any political points, especially since his informant accepts the goals of the war and writes not a critical word about the president.

Rather, Edwards, who chairs the Appropriations subcommittee that deals with military construction and veterans affairs and represented Fort Hood for 13 years, believes that “younger soldiers, both commissioned and noncommissioned,’’ can often provide more candid testimony than higher-ups constrained in their ability to present “bad news.”

For this officer, winning entails getting the politics right in Iraq at both the local and national levels. Locally, he says, our military has enjoyed considerable success. But he’s worried about the will and capacity of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki to take on the Shiite militias.

“Our real goal,” he writes, “was to persuade our Iraqi friends and allies to actively and publicly support us ... to help us tip the balance of public opinion in our favor.’’ That meant helping them with security and “civil works projects’’ and giving them “prestige by showing publicly that our commander listened to their advice.’’ .....(more)

The rest of the article is at: http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20070111_ej_dionne_assembly_of_vipers/

[efhmc]

1. This is very important information. Chet was once my rep before he

was reredistricted out of this area. He is a verry reasonable person and tries hard to represent all of his constituents and is highly regarded by the military.

[Uncle Joe]

2. A failure of politics

got us in to this war and a failure of politics is the biggest challenge to a successful outcome.