McChrystal Out, Petraeus In - The Next Phase Begins
McChrystal Out, Petraeus In - The Next Phase Begins
Imagine the following said in a halting Texas accent:
Make no mistake, we have a clear goal. We are going to break the Taliban's momentum. We are going to build Afghan capacity. We are going to relentlessly apply pressure on al-Qaida and its leadership, strengthening the ability of both Afghanistan and Pakistan to do the same. We will not tolerate a safe haven for terrorists...
Those are not the words of President George W. Bush, of course. They are the words of President Barack Obama... spoken on the occasion of relievingGen. Stanley McChrystal from his top command post in Afghanistan.
McChrystal, who made the odd mistake of being overly candid in aRolling Stone magazine article, is to be replaced by Gen. David Petraeus. The switch was enthusiastically endorsed by the Republican side via their ranking member in terms of military credibility, John McCain.
"We think there is no one more qualified or more outstanding leader than General Petraeus," the Republican Senator from Arizona said.
The timing is, shall we say, "interesting" at the very least. As theWSJ reports,
The Afghanistan war effort Gen. McChrystal had been leading and the strategy he personally devised for it are entering a crucial few months that may well determine their success or failure. Before being dismissed Wednesday... Gen. McChrystal had put in place what most analysts consider the most comprehensive plan of coordinated military action and economic development in eight years of warfare. The troops he persuaded President Barack Obama to dispatch to execute that plan are still arriving...
The analysts at Politico.com believe thefiring of McChrystal represents a "doubling down" on the Afghan war strategy.
"By choosing Gen. David Petraeus as McChrystal's replacement," Politico opines, "Obama picked exactly the strong political player whom advocates of continued U.S. military action in Afghanistan hoped would be in place as the 2011 deadline for beginning withdrawal of U.S. troops begins to slip."
A Safe Pair of Hands...
McChrystal upped the ante in Afghanistan by arguing hard for an additional 40,000 troops a request three-quarters fulfilled by President Obama. (The dispatch of 30,000 troops was announced by the POTUS on Dec. 1, 2009.)
Now, though, a safer pair of hands is needed to ensure the Republicans stay on board with the master plan. EnterDavid Petraeus, "a charismatic and politically savvy general with strong ties to Republicans who is likely to be a vigorous advocate for seeing the job through..."
Hmm, let's see. So far we've got a trillion-dollar minerals cachet... murky geopolitical interests... obliquely clashing superpowers (the U.S. and China)... questions of sovereign energy security... invocations of global terrorism... quasi-official negotiations with warlords and thugs... and a corrupt government (the Karzai regime) using personal relationships to exploit a semi-failed state.
And on top of all that, now we have a burst of chess piece maneuvering in the U.S. high command at a strategically sensitive time, with the outcome clearly favorable to prolonging and escalating the hot mess just described.
And a Familiar Voice
So... howelse could we thicken up a plot already worthy of a Tom Clancy novel?
I know. How about throwing in Henry Kissinger? As Kissinger writes inThe Washington Post(emphasis mine),
The central premise is that, at some early point, the United States will be able to turn over security responsibilities to an Afghan government and national army whose writ is running across the entire country. This turnover is to begin next summer.
Neither the premise nor the deadline is realistic...
We really justcan't leave, you see. It's tough business, this nation-building stuff. We don't WANT to do it, you know... and Karzai is a horrible partner, so crooked he probably screws his hat on... but, well, what can you do. America is "Policeman to the World," after all... and then there's all that mineral wealth to think of...
Your humble editor is neither Republican nor Democrat. For the most part, political labels are loathsome things, useful as manipulative tools for button-pushing propaganda campaigns.(Want a different opinion? My fellow editor Adam Lass has much to say about politics. Sign up here for his investment commentary.)
But with that said, one has to wonder: Given what we see unfolding now, perhaps an apology is in order a big fat "WE'RE SORRY" from the anti-war left who still support President Obama, even as he treads the exact same path that W. knew so well. Next thing you know, we'll see our new Prez in a flight jumpsuit working a photo-op on an aircraft carrier.
And by the way -- if it's the uber-conservative neocons who run the imperialist war machine (as the vocal left once firmly charged), how is it those guys are still in business with a liberal president and a liberal Congress? And how is it business is still booming? It makes you wonder who's really pulling the strings. Doesn't it?
And then, of course, there's still Iran to consider...
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