Col. Wilkerson: Bush is "now hidden behind David Petraeus"

[usregimechange]

Bill Maher interviewed Col. Lawrence Wilkerson, Chief of Staff to U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell (September 7, 2007, Episode #517):

MAHER: I wish the retired and the disgusted were in charge. Okay, so, General Petraeus is going before Congress this week. We’ve been hearing for months and months and months, “Let’s hear from General Petraeus.” First of all, he sounds like a gladiator. “Petraeus, give me your sword!” So we all believe in him already. But, Paul Krugman wrote an interesting column this week, and he said basically, Petraeus is playing the part of your old boss, Colin Powell; when Bush wanted to sell this war in Iraq, he sent Colin Powell before the U.N. because he had the kind of credibility. And it looks like General Petraeus, according to Mr. Krugman, is being set up in the same role. Do you agree with that?

WILKERSON: I’m worried about this. I have a grave concern about what we’re doing to our military leadership, from Dick Myers to Pete Pace, to John Abizaid, to now Dave Petraeus. Bruce Ackerman, a Yale law professor, had a fine piece a couple of days ago in the Financial Times: Civil military relations are being damaged by the fact that the president is hiding behind his military leaders. And he’s now hidden behind David Petraeus in a way that puts the Sword of Damocles over Petraeus’ head. He’s damned if he does and damned if he doesn’t. That’s not the way we should be running our military.

http://www.billmaher.com/?page_id=204