CENTCOM stink, the picky Petraeus promotion
April 25th, 2008, 1:48 pm · 2 Comments · posted by jhogg
It’s the big news that the heap-big “Surge” doctor is going to be taking over at Central Command (CENTCOM) and the number two in Iraq (slightly less heap-big ) Lt. Gen. Raymond Odierno is getting promoted to full-bore “heap big.” Stars and Stripes had a glowing article about how the nomination means the military is going to “embrace counterinsurgency” and that the move is “…part of a shift in the military’s warfighting philosophy to the counterinsurgency tactics that both men embrace.”
But let’s take this pill with a bit of realism.
The last CENTCOM commander just got patted on the head and shuffled off somewhere nice and quiet and away from the media for being rather blunt about his disagreements with the Heap-Biggest in Chief who resides in the White Teepee in DC. Admiral William Fallon didn’t mince many words about the powers rooting for attacking Iran when he said ”This constant drum beat of conflict is what strikes me which is not helpful and not useful. […] I expect that there will be no war and that is what we ought to be working for.” (USA Today) This didn’t sit to well with the democr-issars, partly because rumors have been floating around for some time that either we’re already set for a bombing strike into Iran or we’re already set to act shocked when the Israelis execute a bombing strike into Iran.
Given CENTCOM’s dirty laundry flapping gently in the breeze for the world to enjoy, President Bush nominating his shining champion of Iraq to take up the banner is about as shocking as sand on the beach. But this also represents a pretty big tossup for the big military command. Petraeus made his bread and butter during the surge. Everyone’s lined up to pat him on the back, but the long and short is we don’t know if the tree is going to bear good fruit or just those crappy apples the squirrels knock down before they’re ripe. If Iraq winds up good to go as the Surge forces decline (not looking likely as agitations continue in Basra and Sadr City) then our new CENTCOM commander can ride is as the hero who saved the day. But if Iraq continues circling the bowl we’re going to be dealing with a powerful military commander whose face has been thoroughly egged.
If the latter turns out to be the case it will likely appear that Bush the Junior (just like Clinton the Male-er) packed up a military full of administration-friendly commanders. The military can afford infighting in the post-November maelstrom like I can afford a Ferrari.
Petraeus’ legacy as a counter-insurgent strategist won’t be fully played out for a few year. But as the chief of CENTCOM his ability at politicking will be judged much quicker.
He might find that he enjoyed Iraq better, if you lose there, all they cut off is your head.
April 25th, 2008 at 4:46 pm
> With another guilt by association broad-brush smear, even if Iran’s passive
> aggressive and malignant neglect towards the financial and political
> interests that favor the partisan groups in Iraq, Petraeus’ nomination for
> CENTCOM chief opens the door for generational wars of military adventures
> based on the apologetics of an abysmal foreign policy and mindset of
> culturally and politically biased policy wonks.
The whorish supination of ALL the candidates and Congress, allowing the Israelis,the dominant militray force in the Middle East, carte blanche only ENABLES the coontributing arguments for the strategy and tactics that Petraeus will have at his disposable.
April 25th, 2008 at 7:02 pm
This promotion is a very slick move by the neocons. Always remember that for the neocons, the goal in Iraq is to keep the gravy train going. The White House supposably can’t keep track of the contracts in Iraq but the corruption to the new 750 million dollar embassy in the green zone rated a signing statement; for national security reasons, of course. When Cheney was in Ft Walton today, that’s all he talked about. Not terrorism. Not America. Not the shaky economy. Keeping the war going. It’s the bread and butter for his cronies and their political movement, it buys the propaganda and pays for the neocon congressman to filibuster anyone looking into corruption.
Then we have our President. He has failed at every endeavor during his presidency. Don’t think for a second that this egomaniac doesn’t hear the catcalls and jeers that follow him everywhere he goes. His legacy is now tied to the war in Iraq, he has nothing else. He desperately needed a general that would succeed in Iraq, and
promoted Petraeus when General Dave told him that he had a plan.
This is Bush’s management style; he is a dull and unimaginative man himself, he picks one guy to believe and then sticks with him. He did this with Rumsfeld to the nation’s deep regret. Now he’s doing the same with Petraeus.
General Petraeus has been impressive. Even though the success of the escalation is due to paying off both sides in a civil war, he has managed to isolate and destroy many foreign elements that were previously giving our side fits. It’s really a shame that he wasn’t allowed greater leeway sooner. If we had any kind of real leadership out of the executive branch, he would be paired with a man in Washington to run interference for him, like Powell did for Schwarzkopf or Marshall did for Eisenhower in WWII. Unfortunately, our commander in chief is Bush/Cheney, and both of them have well deserved reputations as being liars and completely untrustworthy.
When Bush vows to do something nowadays, it is almost assured that it will never been done. And Cheney has been in la-la land for some time, telling bold faced lies and insisting that they are true.
So they are trotting out Petraeus to play their political games for them.
Congress is forced to tone down the questions to a successful general, if they don’t show respect for the military while a war is going on they will very likely be voted out come the next election. And
Petraeus is committed, this is his war, and he has no intention of losing it.
Unfortunately, the problem is: That there is a world going on, one in which there is terrorism, and economic upheaval, and other things which are a whole lot more important to the future of the nation than
Bush’s freaking legacy. There is a reason that there is a joints-chiefs, and a Secretary of Defense, and a State department. That reason has to do with the future well being of the nation. The neocons should not be myopically focusing on Iraq because it’s their money-maker; they should be taking a broad view of national security demands, the implications of the war on the global (and US) economy, the war in Afghanistan, the Muslim extremist terrorists, the health and well being of the American military, and a hundred other things.
Then there is the tactical situation in Iraq. The borders are still wide open, foreign fighters and arms are still coming in. The Saudis, Kuwaitis and the UAW are arming the Sunnis. The Americans support on Sheite faction (Maliki) over another Sheite faction (el-Sadr) but
are arming and paying both armies. As soon as the payments stop, the civil war is on. It is, quite literally, madness.
But Petraeus’s work has given the neocons a lull, and they are now promoting him before the feces hits the oscalliting device. The neocons had fired his boss (Fallon) who wanted diplomacy with Iran, sending the same message as Rumsfeld did when he fired the general who told him (correctly) that his invasion plan for Iraq was nonsense doomed to failure. Now they have brought Petraeus back, prematurely because he has just started to succeed, to run political interference for them in Washington in their quest to both continue the war and to start a new war with Iran. It is very slick, for it assures them of keeping the Iraqi war going unabated— the neocons have been spending more money on Iraq recently than ever before; they need to get every last nickle for themselves and their greedy corporate buddies before they lose power and they are investigated. And it allows them to continue pounding the war drums on Iran, a war which would be so disastrous for the American economy and the average American but oh so lucrative for the oil cartels and the military industrial complex. And it gives them a new neocon star, if General Dave Petraeus happens to accept it. So far he has been apolitical, but he has articulated presidential ambitions.
What could be better for the republicans? Tailor made for Fox news soundbites: The man who was winning in Iraq until the democrats took over. That taking the general out of Iraq, where he is needed, to trot him out for their political maneuvers in Washington ill suits the situation in Iraq doesn’t concern them.
What concerns them is keeping those cost plus contracts going.
Hopefully, Dave Petraeus will turn out to be another Smedley Butler, and after next year the neocons and their anti-American movement will be history, save for cleaning up their mess and jailing a few of them. I’d say hanging them, but they haven’t hung any politicians lately, even though quite a few of them on both sides are in desperate need of Mr knotted branch and Mr twisted hemp.