Comments on: Listen To The Generals, Senator Obama

By: Mark

Mark — Sat, 26 Jul 2008 20:07:50 +0000

I’m still waiting to hear from the person who thinks we shouldn’t respect Iraq’s sovereignty…but glad we can at least reach partial agreement on the fact that Petraeus seems to be a person worth listening to…

By: Ryan

Ryan — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 13:15:29 +0000

That said, two things:

1. It’s important to separate Petraeus the general from Petraeus the political appointee. There are positions he holds because they are the policy of the guys he works for, and there are positions he holds because they are the right strategy for the military. Trying to disentangle those threads using only what he says to reporters is only going to be mildly successful. (That is, he’s obviously not going to call for a timetable if the President doesn’t want one. That he now says it’s not a good idea doesn’t actually tell us anything about what he thinks.)

2. It’s also/even more important that we pay attention to what Iraqis want. They very clearly want a withdrawal and if “listening to the generals” means ignoring the pretty well-documented wishes of the people of Iraq, I would say ignore the generals as fast as you can. The military is a tool and its officers will say/do what they need to do in order to win battles. Foreign policy, whether Republicans believe it or not, is about a lot more than just shooting people you don’t like. It’s also about things like respect for sovereignty – and supposedly we fought a war so the people of Iraq could have some of that.

By: Ryan

Ryan — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 13:07:14 +0000

I’m sort of with Mark and Bob on this. Obama will be needing Petraeus, who by all accounts (and some evidence) is a bright guy who is awfully good at his job. I have a feeling that unshackling him from the lunatics in office right now will only increase his effectiveness.

By: Bob from Ohio

Bob from Ohio — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 14:51:16 +0000

Mark is saying that Obama SHOULD listen. I though listening to experts was what you guys accuse President Bush of never doing?

He is not a child Fargus, he understands that civilians make policy.

Listening to Petraeus in particular is in PRESIDENT Obama’s interest.

Petraeus is the widely admired winning general in Iraq. He is the leading US expert in counterinsurgency tactics. He is CENTCOM commander so is responsible for Afghanistan.

Obama is going to “surge” in Afghanistan. He needs Petraeus or the risk of failure is going to go up.

Failure in Afghanistan will not only be bad for the US, it will make Obama a one termer.

Obama also needs an orderly withdraw from Iraq. Petraeus is
going to be useful in making that happen.

By: Fargus

Fargus — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 10:23:00 +0000

I don’t know if you realize this, Mark, but Obama is running for President of the United States. It’s not the President’s job to uncritically do whatever the generals say. In fact, that’s the generals’ job. Obama’s not the President yet, sure. But if he were, he’d be setting the strategy. What about when the generals disagreed with Bush’s strategy? Did you think that he should have uncritically done whatever they said? I’d assume not, as you’re a vociferous supporter of the boondoggle in Iraq.