On Wed, 04 Feb 2009 09:48:11 -0500, Eisboch wrote:


Shades of Lyndon Johnson. He didn't want to listen to his military
commanders either.

*If* this article it to be believed, those military commanders should be
fired, at the very least.

http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=45640

thunder wrote:
On Wed, 04 Feb 2009 09:48:11 -0500, Eisboch wrote:


Shades of Lyndon Johnson. He didn't want to listen to his military
commanders either.

*If* this article it to be believed, those military commanders should be
fired, at the very least.

http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=45640

You don't get to be a 4 star general officer without knowing a little
bit about politics and making friends on Capital Hill and the various
states with large military bases and defense contractors.

On Wed, 04 Feb 2009 19:27:02 -0500, BAR wrote:


http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=45640

You don't get to be a 4 star general officer without knowing a little
bit about politics and making friends on Capital Hill and the various
states with large military bases and defense contractors.

And you don't get to stay a 4 Star by undermining your CIC. ;-)

Personally, I don't understand the resistance to Obama's 16 month
withdrawal. The Status of Forces agreement has us out of the cities by
June, and out of Iraq in 36 months. Al-Maliki states an earlier
withdrawal if OK by him. The Sunnis seemed concerned by our leaving, but
there seems to be an effort to address their issues. I mean, Iraq is
looking relatively stable, though fragile, and we can use the manpower in
Afghanistan, where things look to be going downhill.

"thunder" wrote in message
t...
On Wed, 04 Feb 2009 19:27:02 -0500, BAR wrote:


http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=45640

You don't get to be a 4 star general officer without knowing a little
bit about politics and making friends on Capital Hill and the various
states with large military bases and defense contractors.

And you don't get to stay a 4 Star by undermining your CIC. ;-)

Personally, I don't understand the resistance to Obama's 16 month
withdrawal. The Status of Forces agreement has us out of the cities by
June, and out of Iraq in 36 months. Al-Maliki states an earlier
withdrawal if OK by him. The Sunnis seemed concerned by our leaving, but
there seems to be an effort to address their issues. I mean, Iraq is
looking relatively stable, though fragile, and we can use the manpower in
Afghanistan, where things look to be going downhill.


My guess is that Petraeus and Gates feel Iraq's government is still too
fragile and more time is needed.
You can debate the reasons for being there, but we totally transformed
Iraq's politics.
It would be terrible to leave Iraq in chaos or to see lives lost in vain.

Of course Harry thinks they just want to justify their jobs.

Petraeus is also in charge of operations in Afghanistan. It seems
reasonable to conclude that he
would be anxious to wrap up operations in Iraq, focus on Afghanistan and
maybe even catching Bin Laden. He'd be a national hero.
So, there must be good reason for them to advise against too early of a pull
out in Iraq.

Eisboch

On Thu, 05 Feb 2009 07:44:12 -0500, Eisboch wrote:


My guess is that Petraeus and Gates feel Iraq's government is still too
fragile and more time is needed.
You can debate the reasons for being there, but we totally transformed
Iraq's politics.
It would be terrible to leave Iraq in chaos or to see lives lost in
vain.

It's my understanding that it took a year to hammer out the Status of
Forces agreement, mainly because the Iraqis wanted us out quicker than we
wanted to go. Petraeus and Gates have done a good job, but perhaps the
Iraqis also know something about Iraq.

So, there must
be good reason for them to advise against too early of a pull out in
Iraq.

Maybe just being conservative? I mean that in a good way. ;-)

"thunder" wrote in message
t...
On Thu, 05 Feb 2009 07:44:12 -0500, Eisboch wrote:


My guess is that Petraeus and Gates feel Iraq's government is still too
fragile and more time is needed.
You can debate the reasons for being there, but we totally transformed
Iraq's politics.
It would be terrible to leave Iraq in chaos or to see lives lost in
vain.

It's my understanding that it took a year to hammer out the Status of
Forces agreement, mainly because the Iraqis wanted us out quicker than we
wanted to go. Petraeus and Gates have done a good job, but perhaps the
Iraqis also know something about Iraq.

So, there must
be good reason for them to advise against too early of a pull out in
Iraq.

Maybe just being conservative? I mean that in a good way. ;-)


I think Petraeus is a smart and dedicated son-of-a-gun.
He doesn't want to forfeit the efforts of many.

Eisboch

On Thu, 05 Feb 2009 06:11:03 -0600, thunder
wrote:

Personally, I don't understand the resistance to Obama's 16 month
withdrawal. The Status of Forces agreement has us out of the cities by
June, and out of Iraq in 36 months. Al-Maliki states an earlier
withdrawal if OK by him. The Sunnis seemed concerned by our leaving, but
there seems to be an effort to address their issues. I mean, Iraq is
looking relatively stable, though fragile, and we can use the manpower in
Afghanistan, where things look to be going downhill.

Afghanistan will be President Obama's Vietnam.


--

"All right everyone, line up alphabetically according to
your height."

Casey Stengel

"Wizard of Woodstock" wrote in message
...


Afghanistan will be President Obama's Vietnam.



I heard yesterday that Russia has offered us help in Afghanistan.

Amazing the difference a few years makes.

Eisboch

On Thu, 5 Feb 2009 07:54:01 -0500, "Eisboch"
wrote:

I heard yesterday that Russia has offered us help in Afghanistan.

Amazing the difference a few years makes.

Maybe they are having problems with the poppy. I believe most heroin
comes from there.

Casady

wrote:
On Thu, 5 Feb 2009 07:54:01 -0500, "Eisboch"
wrote:

Afghanistan will be President Obama's Vietnam.


I heard yesterday that Russia has offered us help in Afghanistan.

Amazing the difference a few years makes.

Yeah that's the ticket. The Soviets did such a good job last time.
That's all we need, to be compared to the Soviet occupation ... more
than we are now.

Unfortunately, there is no evidence the governments of Afghanistan or
Pakistan are even interested in ridding their countries of right-wing
extremist terrorists. After all our years in Iraq, we haven't done the
job there, either. We're not going to be able to remake the Islamic
world in our image.