The Pope, the King -- and no complaints from anyone about referring to both of these writers as jackasses.10 Things to Know About the Petraeus-McChrystal SwitchWhatever the general wants, the general will get. After firing his Afghanistan commander twice in just thirteen months, Obama has no choice. Petraeus now outranks every administration player on Afghanistan. Save Obama -- officially, at least... Frankly, the new sheriff's strong personal relationships with the Pakistani military and security forces will matter a helluva lot more than which of McChrystal's lieutenants he keeps on or gets rid of."King David" has no peers when it comes to counterinsurgency credentials, having overseen the creation of the Army-Marine Corps's seminal field manual and commanded its first successful application in Iraq. If anything, Obama has now doubled-down on the COIN path in Af-Pak, so the COINdistas haven't taken any sort of hit.
by Thomas P.M. Barnett
author of Great Powers: America and the World After Bush
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
Another take on this is that O’bummer needs to be well engaged in this war when he comes up for nomination and reelection in 2012. A major platform will be that any disruption in the DC power structure would jeopardize the entire effort.