Posted on 04/10/2008 6:26:14 AM PDT by seanmerc
Surprise, surprise. Gen. David Petraeus, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, wants to put a halt to any more troop withdrawals for the foreseeable future.
The highly politicized Petraeus seemed to be dutifully following his White House marching orders when he testified before congressional committees earlier this week.
Under his scenario, there will be no drawdown of U.S. forces in that strife-ridden country until President Bush leaves office.
Thats fine with Bush, who obviously has no intention of ending this futile war on his watch. Apparently feeling no responsibility for starting the war, Bush is planning to pass the Iraqi debacle on to his successor.
You can forget accountability for the yet-to-be defined U.S. military mission that has taken more than 4,000 American lives, possibly a million Iraqi lives and destroyed a country.
Think of President Harry Truman and President Lyndon B. Johnson, who both understood that war was too important to be left to the generals in the field.
Truman fired the popular Gen. Douglas MacArthur because he disobeyed orders in the Korean War. Johnson knew that he had reached the endgame in Vietnam when Gen. William Westmoreland, the top commander in Vietnam, requested 240,000 more troops in 1968 for the prolonged war that also could not be won.
Those two presidents finally drummed up enough courage to just say no.
Petraeus is too smart to be pinned down on when the U.S. can pull out more troops, especially when theres been a new flare-up of sectarian violence in Iraq. Lets say he is careful and self-protective, trying to hold on.
When Petraeus testified before the Senate Armed Services Committee, Chairman Carl Levin, D-Mich., told him: What you have given to your chain of command is a plan which has no end to it.
The general replied: Withdrawing too many forces too quickly could jeopardize the progress of the past year. Congress should wake up before its too late and listen to retired Army Lt. Gen. William Odom, former director of the National Security Agency.
NSA is the nations largest intelligence agency, which monitors messages from all over the world.
Odom testified before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee last week and urged an immediate withdrawal from Iraq. He claimed the troop surge (escalation) has prolonged instability in Iraq and that the only sensible strategy is rapid withdrawal.
In a separate speech last week, the outspoken general said, We are certainly to blame for the chaos in Iraq but we do not have the physical means to prevent it.
Odom said the military situation in Iraq is worsened by the proliferation of armed groups under local military chiefs who follow a proliferating number of political bosses.
We are witnessing the road to Balkanization of Iraq, that is political fragmentation, Odom said
War makes strange bedfellows.
The Sunnis are now on our side -- if we continue to pay them enough, of course. They would be happy to see the U.S. attack Shiite-dominated Iran. Odom said those new-found friends threaten to defect unless their fees are increased.
The concern we hear the president and his aides express about a residual base left for al-Qaida if we withdraw is utter nonsense, Odom said. The Sunnis will destroy al-Qaida if we leave Iraq, he added. The Kurds will not allow them in their
Although the U.S. economic recession is expected to dominate the presidential election race, Iraq wont be on the back burner if the Petraeus hearings are any guide.
The three presidential hopefuls -- Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz.; Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y. and Barack Obama, D-Ill. -- showed up at the high-profile hearings where Petraeus testified.
As expected, staunch-war supporter McCain said any promise to withdraw U.S. forces would constitute a failure of political and moral leadership.
In their disappointing comments, the Democratic rivals were as cautious as Petraeus.
Clinton said, Its time to begin an orderly withdrawal of our troops.
Obama told Petraeus that while he wants U.S. troops out of Iraq, he would not initiate a precipitous withdrawal.
Ohios GOP Sen. George Voinovich seemed to express the frustration best when he told Petraeus: The American people have had it up to here.
Helen Thomas can be reached at hthomas@hearstdc.com.
There’s something inherently wrong with Helen Thomas talking about bedfellows.
That is a really scary picture.
Are there any troops in South Korea....Wasn't that war in the '50's??
Did Helen have some work done? She’s looking better in that second picture.
Too bad Helen’s lungs are without end.
“Think of President Harry Truman and President Lyndon B. Johnson, who both understood that war was too important to be left to the generals in the field.”
This is when we started “losing” wars. When the warfighting experts were handcuffed by elected officials under too much pressure from “lose at all costs” lefties.
Helen Thomas is still a pro-terrorist anti-American old cow. Axis Sally sheds a tear that she had to go to prison for being the same sort of witch as Helen.
Lefties opposed the war against Hitler too until Hitler betrayed their beloved Stalin.
Screw Commies. They are responsible for the deaths of over a hundred million in their own countries.
This is as far as I could stand reading before my eyeballs started to bleed. This statement actually started a hemorrhage. Could someone please, please, please charge this traitorous little troll of an ass hat with sedition and have done with it!
Although I’m sure she was well into her 90’s at the time of the Korean War, she’s taken this opportunity to re-write history based on the assumption that most of America is illiterate, which it well may be.
LOL!
More rantings from the mouth without end.
All wars eventually end. Stupidity, however, endures forever.
(Spewing coffee) You know, that’s really quite an improvement.
When is that old bat going to crawl in a hole and pull the sod over her head?
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