Hiding Behind The Camouflage Skirt

[babylonsister]

http://www.smirkingchimp.com/thread/10058

Hiding Behind The Camouflage Skirt
by David Michael Green | Sep 21 2007


snip//


Bush is no less hiding behind the men in uniform now as he is when he continually delivers policy addresses to assembled military personnel who are unable to express their disapproval of his lies. What is happening here is a typical Rovian sleight-of-hand. It's become conventional wisdom nowadays that politicians - even the commander-in-chief - shouldn't micro-manage the military in fighting America's (seemingly endless) wars. There's some valid justification for that concept, but part of this mantra is also driven by the conservative framing of how we lost Vietnam. In any case, the Rove/Bush propaganda machine has conveniently morphed that plausible concept into the present scenario, so that Bush can be seen as simply respecting the autonomy of his command staff.

That, of course, is an absurd notion, and not only because he's picked those commanders on the very basis of their willingness to have their strings pulled. In the prosecution of wars, there is a hierarchy, from bottom to top, running from tactics to strategy to policy. Sure, lieutenants should optimally be free to make tactical choices (with some guidance from above), and generals should make the strategic decisions best suited for winning the conflict (again, not without input from on high). They're there, on the ground, and they're trained professionals - this is their area of expertise. But in a democracy - and especially one which loves to champion the notion of civilian rule over the military - the policy choices have to be made by the politicians. Generals don't decide whether to go to war - presidents and Congresses do. And they're also the ones who decide when enough is enough and it's time to come home. Unless, of course, you're a politician hiding your unpopular policies behind a camouflage skirt in order to fool the public (again).

Given that a whopping five percent (no, that's not a typo) of the American public continue to trust the president on Iraq policy questions, and given the administration's obsessive/compulsive disorder when it comes to lying at every possible opportunity, it's hardly a surprise that they would trot out Petreaus to desperately sell what they themselves cannot. But even that hasn't worked. Poll data show the public completely unmoved after last week's embarrassing kabuki dance. Americans have had enough - of the lies, of the violence, of the fiscal costs, of the diminished American security, of the failure - and, for that matter, of the president, too.

This show is over - it's only a matter of time, and of lives lost. Not even a shiny-starred general with ribbons on his chest and a fancy sheaf of West Wing-produced talking points can reel it in anymore.

This is especially true as the Republicans in Congress look ahead to 2008 and see that their careers are about to meet the same fate as the million or so Iraqis whom Mr. Bush's war for freedom has liberated, not only from Saddam, but also from the burden of having to wake up every morning.

Catch you later, Coleman. See you, Smith. Close the door on the way out, Collins. Sayonara, Sununu. Feel free to kick Bush's butt for taking you down when you begin your brief term in political purgatory, starting January of 2009. It should be quite crowded there by then, full of Republican rejects.

Meanwhile, rest assured that none of you will be the least bit missed.
_______

[frogcycle]

1. Exceptionally good piece

Be sure to read the whole thing.
Whatever dem wins the WH should get this guy on his staff somewhere.

[KAZ]

2. Excellent read! I wish folks would understand this. K&R! n/t

[frogcycle]

3. k