The Military

The new NBC/Wall Street Journal poll has some very interesting findings on Iraq and terrorism. The major conclusion that I come to is that the American people want a change in policy. And they really want a change in the political situation in Iraq.

Only 17 percent of Americans favor keeping troops in Iraq, even if we are making military progress. Forty-six percent believe we must have political progress and a change in the governmental situation to keep troops on the ground. And 34 percent feel we should withdraw troops regardless of military or political progress.  Read more...

Prussian military analyst Carl von Clausewitz once wrote: "The great uncertainty of all data in war is a peculiar difficulty, because all action must, to a certain extent, be planned in a mere twilight, which in addition not infrequently — like the effect of a fog or moonshine — gives to things exaggerated dimensions and unnatural appearance.”

We are in the fog of war now — political, operational, strategic, tactical — and have been since Sept. 11, 2001. The war on Islamic terrorism hasn’t gone as planned, although President Bush did warn us all that this would be a long, bitter struggle.  Read more...

Now that Gen. David Petraeus and Ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker have completed their testimony, this is how the Democratic presidential candidates are going to react over the next several days:

Obama: “I am calling for the complete withdrawal of all of our troops immediately, and I want them out by the end of next year. I also condemn in no uncertain terms the MoveOn ad, but let’s face it, the general did betray us.”

Clinton: “I think Senator Obama is being naïve. But I demand that we pull out all of our troops, too. And while I think MoveOn.org is also naïve, I love them like little brothers and sisters.”  Read more...

Unless you work for a presidential campaign, the only political topic relevant this week is Iraq and American policy moving forward. Gen. David Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker have completed two grueling days of testimony before the House and Senate and have laid out their case for continuing the troop surge for at least another six months. The two witnesses argued that the security and military gains are real and that we are seeing the beginnings of political reconciliation at the local, if not yet at the national, level. The developments in Anbar province are only the most noticeable example of this trend.

At the end of this week, several things will be evident about our future course in Iraq.  Read more...

This morning's headline, that Bush will back the plan by Gen. David Petraeus to remove the surge of 30,000 troops from Iraq next summer, gave me a good out-loud laugh as I bent down in my pajamas to pick up the newspaper from the lawn this morning. Read more...

For anybody looking for new insights, a new start, or renewed hope about the war in Iraq, Gen. David Petraeus’s long-awaited testimony was a big disappointment.

After two days of testimony, what have we learned? Read more...

Memo to MoveOn.org:

1. I agree with your efforts to end the war in Iraq. I was opposed to the war from the outset and still am. I believe that the war has weakened America's focus on the war on terrorism, not strengthened it.  Read more...

The USA Today headline coverage of Petraeus's statement says it all: "Parties Disagree on Timing of Troop Withdrawal." The debate over Iraq has now wound down into a matter of tens of thousands of troops and a few months one way or the other. Read more...

The headline in the AP story by Anne Flaherty at 6:30 p.m. on Monday is “Petraeus Talks of Troop Withdrawal.” Really?

We can argue this headline, discuss whether we are withdrawing fast enough, whether the political situation in Iraq is getting better or worse, whether this administration’s policies in Iraq make any sense.

But one argument that seems to me to be overlooked by many of us, but probably not those in the military, is that we are really harming our armed forces with a continued presence in Iraq. Read more...

I noticed that more than one of our Republican Pundits wrote virtually the exact same post, using the exact same words, which also used the exact same words used by Neil Cavuto and others on Fox News, which also used the exact same words as more than one Republican during the Petraeus hearings today.  Read more...