Posted on 02/03/2009 2:59:49 PM PST by chevydude26
WASHINGTON, Feb 2 (IPS) - CENTCOM commander Gen. David Petraeus, supported by Defence Secretary Robert Gates, tried to convince President Barack Obama that he had to back down from his campaign pledge to withdraw all U.S. combat troops from Iraq within 16 months at an Oval Office meeting Jan. 21.
But Obama informed Gates, Petraeus and Joint Chiefs Chairman Adm. Mike Mullen that he wasn't convinced and that he wanted Gates and the military leaders to come back quickly with a detailed 16-month plan, according to two sources who have talked with participants in the meeting.
Obama's decision to override Petraeus's recommendation has not ended the conflict between the president and senior military officers over troop withdrawal, however. There are indications that Petraeus and his allies in the military and the Pentagon, including Gen. Ray Odierno, now the top commander in Iraq, have already begun to try to pressure Obama to change his withdrawal policy.
A network of senior military officers is also reported to be preparing to support Petraeus and Odierno by mobilising public opinion against Obama's decision.
Petraeus was visibly unhappy when he left the Oval Office, according to one of the sources. A White House staffer present at the meeting was quoted by the source as saying, "Petraeus made the mistake of thinking he was still dealing with George Bush instead of with Barack Obama."
Petraeus, Gates and Odierno had hoped to sell Obama on a plan that they formulated in the final months of the Bush administration that aimed at getting around a key provision of the U.S.-Iraqi withdrawal agreement signed envisioned re-categorising large numbers of combat troops as support troops. That subterfuge was by the United States last November while ostensibly allowing Obama to deliver on his campaign promise...
(Excerpt) Read more at ipsnews.net ...
This quote is striking of the arrogance of Obama as if he knows more than Patreus who brought victory in Iraq...
There’s an inherent conflict here. The military’s objective in a war is to win. Pres. Obama’s objective is to withdraw the troops. He’s trying to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.
Oh Oh Oh!!! I want to be a fly on the wall when Petraeus is told “I won”!
I saw something where the Joint Chiefs were not happy about Obama wanting to close Gitmo.
Our military should NOT end up getting killed to play “catch and release” with Islamic terrorists to make a guy named hussein happy.
Our generals are going to mobilize the people in a coup against the president?
TREASON!
If push comes to shove, can a General, or Generals, force the CIC to be removed from duty?
Zero’s jealous because Petraeus received a standing ovation at the Super Bowl
Is what I am saying making sense? I seem to remember that is in some oath our commanding officers take when they are promoted.
Enlighten me please.
“Our generals are going to mobilize the people in a coup against the president?
TREASON!”
Really? What part about defend the constitution against all enemies, foreign and DOMESTIC...” do you not understand”
Frightening isn’t it? Perhaps we have a president who is an enemy. Just a thought.
Patraeus was probably told that that Obama’s and his party holds the purse strings. They are already cutting 10% from the defense budget and they can make it more.
No, the American president chooses not to listen to his military experts.
When does a President’s actions become treason?
IslamObama...
Lest anyone get the wrong impression from my comments, we must remember that - as a group - there’s a hell of a lot more integrity in our generals than there is in the president’s cabinet.
Just contrast Sully, the USAFA grad and hero pilot, with the Obamaloon, the Harvard law grad.
QED
“Keane, the Army Vice-Chief of Staff from 1999 to 2003, has ties to a network of active and retired four-star Army generals, and since Obama’s Jan. 21 order on the 16-month withdrawal plan, some of the retired four-star generals in that network have begun discussing a campaign to blame Obama’s troop withdrawal from Iraq for the ultimate collapse of the political “stability” that they expect to follow U.S. withdrawal, according to a military source familiar with the network’s plans. “
This guy was under Clinton. A lot of people not happy right now.
Petraus, or any other general, is either giving advice or taking orders. Today he gave advice to the CIC. If the CIC decides against that advice, he can give his general an order. Petraus can either accept the order, or resign. Pretty simple really.
Of course the reality is that Obama probably doesn’t have the political capital to withstand a Petraus resignation. Obama’s fan club will applaud, but everybody else will suddenly sit up & take notice.
“A network of senior military officers is also reported to be preparing to support Petraeus and Odierno by mobilising public opinion against Obama’s decision.”
I believe this is against the UCMJ.
Sedition
being undertaken to counter subversion by a probably constitutionally ineligible arrogant jackass of a cinc.
What have we gotten ourselves into???
Generals are loath to enter this process. They generally keep their mouths shut if they disagree with a POTUS.
IMO, this will be done on the QT. They are not going to want to be seen as objecting to the President. In fact, it is of concern that this story is being presented this way.
It’s almost as if someone is building a case for lopping off some heads, so to speak.
The generals serve at the will of the president. They do not have any power up against the president short of a coup. That would be a very ugly thing, something I wouldn’t advocate.
The people have spoken. Unless public opinion ran so negatively against Obama that Congress would take action, he’s the boss. And even then they would have to prove where he had broken the law to do it. He would have to be guilty of ‘high crimes or misdemeanors.’
I don’t think Congress removes him without them, and we’ve seen it doesn’t remove him with them in certain instances.
He has a third choice. He can go to the people and express concerns about what he is being ordered to do. It might get him in serious trouble but ......
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