From a 'War We Just Might Win' to a War We ARE WINNING: The Petreaus report

What 'manipulation' are you referring to BTW. What part of his testimony appeared manipulated?
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There may not have been any manipulation. Everything he said my be completely true, and entirely his position, and he may be a great and honorable man.

But I don't think being a highly decorated general makes one immune from being manipulated for political purposes, nor does it make one immune from spinning information for political purposes. I know of one highly decorated ex-general who is certainly guilty of that, and who went a long,long way up the ladder with BS.
 
EX-general. And was he in a political civilian role or a military role at the time. And how did THAT go for him?

Furthermore, did he believe it was true and was wrong or did he lie?

Petraeus doesn't have to believe or dis-believe the status of the situation in Iraq, he's THERE seeing and dealing with the reality daily.
 
I am referring to Wesley Clark, who was a snake and ladder climber while he was still in the Army (or so I am told by a few officers that new him).
 
Maybe I'm a little extreme here, but in my opinion General Petraeus has proven he is a man of honor from his time and service to this country untill someone else can prove otherwise. What cooks me is for some to assume, insinuate or accuse based on nothing. The only reason for it is putting on a show to promote their agenda at not only the Generals expense, but quite possibly the expense of many American soldiers of which my son is now one.
I'm absolutely sick of the disrespect directed at our military lately. Hillary's little show just capped it.

I agree about Clark but I don't think anyone should assume doubt of General Petraeus based on Clark. What's the saying? Trust someone till they give reason not to. Innocent till proven guilty.
 
Well, the so-called questioning has devolved into stupid ads like "General Betrayus". :rolleyes:

I seriously doubt that the armchair-monday-morning generals on the committees know more about the present and future of Iraq than General Patraeus does. Please. Special ad rates, indeed.
 
Nobody knows how this will end.But,it is certainly in the best interest of the US to have a friendly country in the middle east.It is illogical to think that all Iraqis are against our help.Hatred and rivalry between groups may last a generation.Some of the hatred against the US goes back to the Shah.
Americans have a hard time seeing past the next election.

Everybody steers away from it like it's the N word,but this is about oil as much as anything.If you want to see our entire way of life come to a screeching halt,disrupt the oil supply.I think that the manipulation of the suicide automatons in the name of Allah has nothing to do with Allah.Oil and power.You don't see any leaders blowing themselves up.
I for one don't want to be blackmailed by Chavez and that idiot in Iran,however you spell his name.
 
"Is the surge working" is the wrong question.

Yes, when you put more American troops in an area, you get more security in that area. But does that really matter?

When the Iraqi military is almost completely Balkanized along sectarian lines, when the Interior Ministry units are controlled by Shi'ite militias, and are killing Sunni civilians, and there is no trust by any group for any other group, and every bunch of three or more people with at least two guns between them are trying to take over the whole darned country...

I don't think it does.

Why has there been no progress on "national reconciliation?" Because they don't want to reconcile. They (speaking mostly of the large Sunni and Shi'ite factions) want to control the country, and the fewer of the other group that's left, the better.

I guess I've just given up all hope. Not that I had much in the beginning. There will be civil war until somebody wins. Based on the numbers, that's likely to result in a pro-Iranian Shi'ite theocracy, and an independent Kurdistan.

I just don't see any likely outcome in Iraq that would be worth the cost in American tax dollars, let alone the cost in American blood.

It's not a question of will. Wishing and trying really hard aren't enough. You've got to look at the likely results, and make the best choice. I think that our best bet now is to let the Sunnis and Shi'ites fight it out, and make our deals with whoever wins. We only have one strategic interest over there anyway, and we can certainly buy it from people we don't like... we do that now, just ask the Saudis.

Do we really even need to care who wins?

--Shannon
 
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