Obama the Aggressive, Militaristic Interventionist?

[laststeamtrain]

Obama the Aggressive, Militaristic Interventionist?
By Robert Dreyfuss, TheNation.com
Posted on May 25, 2010, Printed on May 25, 2010
http://www.alternet.org/story/146995/

A secret military directive signed last September 30 by General David Petraeus, the Centcom commander, authorizes a vast expansion of secret U.S. military special ops from the Horn of Africa to the Middle East to Central Asia and “appears to authorize specific operations in Iran,” according to the New York Times.

If President Obama knew about this, authorized it, and still supports it, then Obama has crossed a red line, and the president will stand revealed as an aggressive, militaristic liberal interventionist who bears a closer resemblance to the president he succeeded than to the ephemeral reformer that he pretended to be in 2008, when he ran for office. If he didn’t know, if he didn’t understand the order, and if he’s unwilling to cancel it now that it’s been publicized, then Obama is a feckless incompetent. Take your pick.

If Congress has any guts at all, it will convene immediate investigative hearings into a power grab by Petraeus, a politically ambitious general, and the Pentagon’s arrogant Special Operations team, led by Admiral Eric T. Olson, who collaborated with Petraeus. And Congress needs to ask the White House: what did you know, and when did you know it?

Drop what you’re doing and read the whole piece, by Mark Mazzetti, in the Times, which ran it on page 1 as the lead story in today’s paper. (Critics of the “mainstream media” take note: the Times broke this story fearlessly, even though it apparently redacted certain operational details at the behest of the administration.)

Here’s the Cliff’s Notes version: In September, Petraeus signed the Joint Unconventional Warfare Task Force Execute Order providing for a “broad expansion of clandestine military activity” in the region of Centcom’s responsibility, the Middle East and South Asia. Reports Mazzetti:

<snip>

Petraeus, along with General McChrystal, should have been fired long ago by Obama, if for no other reason because of their insubordination in 2009 is trying to force Obama's hand in pushing for a series of escalations of the Afghanistan war. Obama can still redeem himself by firing them now.

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http://www.alternet.org/world/146995/obama_the_aggressive%2C_militaristic_interventionist

[cliffordu]

1. Fight terra with terra......

small unit tactics, liquid battlefield, international borders ignored.

The only way to do it. We can't play by the rules of twenty years ago, can't afford it.

sorry, that's the way it works in our brave new world.

[Go2Peace]

2. you used the right words "Brave New World"

That is what we are building alright. We will never "win" this way. We can't fight the entire world. And every time we make unilateral actions across borders we loose a little bit of trust. Not to mention the complexity and virtual impossiblity of keeping huge paramilitary organizations from doing things they should not.