Posted on 12/26/2022 1:40:34 AM PST by RandFan
Petraeus has been defeated in both the Afghan and Iraq wars.
Col. (ret.) Douglas MacGregor was critical of David Petraeus’s assessment of the Ukraine War and said it seems that the former top general is “divorced from reality.”
MacGregor appeared on Jude Andrew Napolitano’s “Judging Freedom,” and was shown a recent Petraeus interview on Fox News. Once again, Petraeus tried to describe a losing effort by the Russians.
“He’s [Putin] tried everything that he can that would be domestically palatable — mobilized additional forces — it’s not going well…they aren’t training or equipping them adequately at all,” Petraeus said.
MacGregor said the kindest thing he could say is that Petraeus is divorced from reality.
“Once again, David Petraeus has embraced this fictional narrative,” he said. “And that’s part of what he’s going to do because he is the product of the very people that are trying to push us into war with Russia now. They pushed us into Iraq and Syria and Afghanistan.”
He continued, “He’s just sort of punching his ticket as a member of the in-club with the status quo. And that’s the status quo that’s ruling us in Washington. They are largely divorced from reality. Russian forces are not poorly trained…they’re very well trained.”
(Excerpt) Read more at trendsinthenews.substack.com ...
Macgregor has no love loss for Petraeus, that’s for sure. I like Macgregor, but he has been overly optimistic about Russian successes early in in the war.
Macgregor has always been controversial. His two books on war fighting doctrine are in my opinion, ahead of their time. His willingness to go against the grain undoubtedly did not help him advance further in the Army.
These ex-general tv dudes really don’t know a damn thing. Most of them have been removed from the battlefield for so long that they really have no up to date intel, nor practical knowledge of current military events. However, they do give the ‘appearance’ of authority that the TV orchestrators are looking for. It would be more effective if they had them dressed in full uniform.
Hate to tell you, but ultimately if your enemy wins, you lost. The rationalization for why is irrelevant. Ergo, we did lose in Afghanistan.
Well they ran as conservatives, but will they govern as conservatives, history says they won’t. I’ll believe it when I see it.
When push comes to shove, I’d bet money the Republicans cave.
Even if Macgregor is wrong, he’s served a useful purpose IMO, when all the war hawks in Washington all agree on the same issue and attempt to silence any dissent it should worry everyone, Macgregor has at least brought a different opinion and has the credentials to at least appear to know what he’s talking about, he may be totally wrong, but time will tell.
Re Vietnam, read the Paris accords. Victory was NV troops out of South Vietnam and that happened under Nixon. Then the Democrats neutered Nixon with Watergate. North Vietnam saw their chance to take the South and did just that. Had Democrats allowed Nixon to conduct operations against North Vietnam South Vietnam likely would not have fallen.
Afgan required enough US forces to remain to keep the Taliban out of Kabul and the surrounding area. Under Trump that would have happened but under the Democrat Biden we cut and ran. Place the blame where it belongs .... Democrats.
Spoken like a master strategist. Do you teach at West Point?
Macgregor is, note, making predictions of foreign military affairs, not US politics.
Show me in the Constitution, or the foundational writings of its framers, where that is something that we, the US citizenry, should be funding with an open ended bank note.
The invasion seems quite well stopped, and the Russians have been made to withraw from considerable territory. So your assertion seems curious.
I haven’t of course. But that was my point. In what way does Macgregor deserve special credibility, above the rest of us groundlings? Macgregor isnt backstage. We are all, Macgregor and we, in the cheap seats together.
It is the fate of an engineer, very often, to be unpopular. Been there, done that.
I meant as far as whether you can claim you won or lost. Not that you shouldn’t evaluate why we lost in Afghanistan.
Years of experience at a higher command and the access to the military intelligence required for that job.
Thats the point - he is a retired US officer without access to information on current conditions in a foreign military.
Petraeus is simply auditioning for a national security position.
Superbly.
Rome occupied the Mediterranean world and most of western Europe for hundreds of years. We are all sons of Rome in many ways. All those castras and limitanei have imprinted us indelibly.
All empires fall, eventually. Thats human history. But they usually leave their marks.
Now THAT is a funny headline.
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