"It will all be the fault of President Petraeus."----by Frank Rich

[rodeodance]

a real diss on Petraeus



Saturday, July 28, 2007


http://greenpagan.blogspot.com/2007/07/who-really-took-over-during-that.html
> Who Really Took Over During That Colonoscopy

Saturday, July 28, 2007

> By FRANK RICH
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> Mr. Allawi writes that the embezzlement of the Iraqi Army’s $1.2 billion arms procurement budget was happening “under the very noses” of the Security Transition Command run by General Petraeus: “The saga of the grand theft of the Ministry of Defense perfectly illustrated the huge gap between the harsh realities on the ground and the Panglossian spin that permeated official pronouncements.” Mr. Allawi contrasts the “lyrical” Petraeus pronouncements in The Post with the harsh realities of the Iraqi forces’ inoperable helicopters, flimsy bulletproof vests and toy helmets. The huge sums that might have helped the Iraqis stand up were instead “handed over to unscrupulous adventurers and former pizza parlor operators.”
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> On “Meet the Press,” Lindsey Graham, one of the Senate’s last gung-ho war defenders in either party, mentioned General Petraeus 10 times in one segment, saying he would “not vote for anything” unless “General Petraeus passes on it.” Desperate hawks on the nation’s op-ed pages not only idolize the commander daily but denounce any critics of his strategy as deserters, defeatists and enemies of the troops.
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> That’s because the Petraeus phenomenon is not about protecting the troops or American interests but about protecting the president. For all Mr. Bush’s claims of seeking “candid” advice, he wants nothing of the kind. He sent that message before the war, with the shunting aside of Eric Shinseki, the general who dared tell Congress the simple truth that hundreds of thousands of American troops would be needed to secure Iraq. The message was sent again when John Abizaid and George Casey were supplanted after they disagreed with the surge.
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> To be the “most credible” person in this war team means about as much as being the most sober tabloid starlet in the Paris-Lindsay cohort. But never mind. What Mr. Bush meant is that General Petraeus is famous for minding his press coverage, even to the point of congratulating the ABC News anchor Charles Gibson for “kicking some butt” in the Nielsen ratings when Mr. Gibson interviewed him last month. The president, whose 65 percent disapproval rating is now just one point shy of Richard Nixon’s pre-resignation nadir, is counting on General Petraeus to be the un-Shinseki and bestow whatever credibility he has upon White House policies and pronouncements.
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> Should those threats become a reality while America continues to be bogged down in Iraq, this much is certain: It will all be the fault of President Petraeus.

[liberal N proud]

1. Is Petraeus part of the PNAC?

Is this why they are giving him all the praise, maybe he is part of the cabal with intentions of world power?

[TwilightGardener]

2. Interesting. So the very success that is the reason Petraeus was supposedly installed

as commander--the much-lauded counterinsurgency success in Mosul--has now completely reversed, and yet he is using the same tactics on a larger scale for Baghdad? Definition of insanity. Of course, if the "surge" is permanent, it will just be an indefinite stalemate, not a total failure like Mosul. That's what Chimpy is counting on until 2009, when the NEXT President will finally have to pull the plug and deal with the ensuing consequences.