Petraeus:"committing U.S. units to counterinsurgencies appears to be a very problematic proposition"

[sabra]

http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2007/09/quote-for-the-7.html

"The Vietnam experience left the military leadership feeling that they should advise against involvement in counterinsurgencies unless specific, perhaps unlikely, circumstances obtain -- i.e. domestic public support, the promise of a quick campaign, and freedom to employ whatever force is necessary to achieve rapid victory. In light of such criteria, committing U.S. units to counterinsurgencies appears to be a very problematic proposition, difficult to conclude before domestic support erodes and costly enough to threaten the well-being of all America's military forces (and hence the country's national security), not just those involved in the actual counterinsurgency," - David Howell Petraeus, The American Military and the Lessons of Vietnam: A study of military influence and the use of force in the post-Vietnam era. PhD Dissertation, Princeton University, 1987. Page 305.

Here's the key question: why is Petraeus now abandoning every counter-insurgency principle he spent many years articulating? The deeper question is: how badly is the surge threatening the U.S.'s national security? How much more danger is continuing this failed policy putting us in?

[edhopper]

1. I think he got

an extra star and a big battlefield to play with.

[madrchsod]

2. he`s following orders....

what he should do is resign ,retire, and go public.

[bahrbearian]

3. He only has to tell the truth.