Why What General Petraeus said is Wrong about the Middle East (or is it just being misinterpreted?)

The Lid ^ | 3/16/2010 | Barry Rubin

[Shellybenoit]

General David Petraeus is a smart guy, one of the smartest in the U.S. government at present. But he’s no Middle East expert. Let’s examine two remarks he made in his congressional testimony. Before we do, though, promise me you will read paragraph 17 because there's a very explosive point made there you won't find anywhere else. Agreed? OK, let's go.

Please note, by the way, that what he actually said is far milder than earlier leaks claimed. In addition, of course, Petraeus has to support White House policy, whatever he really thinks or knows. The Defense Department's recent Quadrennial review, also written to please the White House, contained not one mention of Iran's drive to get nuclear weapons or the threat of revolutionary Islamism. And he also has advisors who tell him the wrong stuff.

[BusterBear]

Of course, Petraeus has to support White House policy, whatever he really thinks or knows. The Defense Department's recent Quadrennial review, also written to please the White House, contained not one mention of Iran's drive to get nuclear weapons or the threat of revolutionary Islamism.

It has been the aim of the Obama Administration, ever since they came into office, to convince Americans that if only an agreement could be reached between the Palestinians and Israelis, then Arab governments in countries like Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan, etc. would feel free to support measures against Iran and this would force Iran to back down.

Ergo, Israel will be responsible, due to its "intransigence," if Iran develops a nuclear bomb.

Of course, this theory ignores the fact that Iran is doing everything in its power to subvert an agreement by funding and arming Hamas, Hezbollah, and Syria; as well as stirring up tensions in Iraq and Afghanistan. But it would be much harder to restrain Iran than to set up Israel as a scapegoat for the ineffectiveness of Obama's Mid-East policy and for the time when Iran gets the bomb.

My guess is that Petraeus knows this but is just falling in with the rationalizations of the European Union, the Arab states, and now the Obama Administration. He has his own career to think about.

[WLR]

Won the war in Iraq.

I am sorry but with all respect your completely wrong..

The West and the United States has unquestionalby lost in Iraq..

Our Troops were undefeated in the field nonetheless that is not the measure of success in that environment.

Once again:

Al Malaki is a Shia who lived in exile as a guest of the Iranian Government. He is their man.

We substitutied a largely secualr Government in Saddam Hussaein for a Government which as a matter of course voted to adopt Sharia as the overidding law of the land in Iraq.
200,000 Chaldean Christians have fled to avoid religious persecution..

Just what have we won?

Nothing,

50,000 US troops to be stationed indefinitely in a hostile nation as a form of welfare and excuse to continue to pour money into a crap hole of our Faux Leaders making?

Won? In a Pigs Eye.

W