Bush Shifts Iraq Burden Onto General

[babylonsister]

http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/05/14/1179/

Bush Shifts Iraq Burden Onto General
by Jay Bookman

snip//

“Decisions about the posture in Iraq need to be based upon conditions on the ground,” Bush said recently. “And (there’s) no better person to report about the conditions on the ground than somebody who is there, and that would be General Petraeus.”

Bush will be president and commander in chief for another 20 months. But in effect, he has surrendered his self-bestowed title of The Decider.

As of last week, Petraeus has become The Decider. If the general reports in September that the surge is making progress — and if that claim can be seen as legitimate by the public — he could convince a reluctant Congress to fund military operations through one more budget cycle.

However, if Petraeus decides he cannot legitimately claim progress, including concrete steps by the Iraqi government to live up to its obligations, he will force a dramatic change of course that politically, the president will be helpless to prevent.

That’s a huge burden for an unelected official to bear. Petraeus is not only free to be frank with the American people in a way that military officers never are, he is now obliged to be so.

It is an extraordinary situation in American history. A weak president and paralyzed Congress have in essence defaulted their roles, dumping that responsibility on a four-star general.

It is no reflection on Petraeus to note that is a deeply troubling development.

[Ian David]

1. The Buck Stops THERE. Heh heh. Now, watch this drive. n/t

[babylonsister]

2. Yes, not a care in the world now. nt

[theoldman]

3. Petraeus will end up as the fall guy.

For him it is a lose lose situation. I hope he has the balls to pass the final decision back to Bush.

[babylonsister]

4. I guess they got their 'war czar' anyway. nt

[Ian David]

6. Didn't the Democratic Congress vote to confirm him with very little fuss?

Mostly because he claimed a willingness to try and talk some sense into Der Chimpenfuhrer?

[Wiley50]

5. He couldn't find any other sucker to be czar

So he nominated the fool he already had

tsk tsk Tsk

[sheerjoy]

7. Does anyone....

really believe the good general will say the mission is a failure? Cmon. This smells to high heaven of a set up. The general will say all is wonderful, we are winning and * was right all along - and "we, the people" will be expected to just grin and bear it.

20 more months --- at least 5000 more dead troops.

[spartan61]

9. I so agree with you.

I don't believe for a minute that georgie will allow Petraeus to say the surge has failed. No matter what, the general will say that the surge is a complete success. I feel he is in the chimp's pocket and will say anything he is told to say. It's a total set-up.

[pinkpops]

8. I think that game is called "hot potato"