Petraeus for McChrystal: Lipstick on a Pig

[unhappycamper]

Petraeus for McChrystal: Lipstick on a Pig
Saturday 10 July 2010
by: Dr. Wilmer J. Leon III, t r u t h o u t | Op-Ed

The Senate voted unanimously to confirm Gen. David Petraeus to replace fired Gen. Stanley McChrystal to lead the International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan. General Petraeus stepped down as the head of US Central Command and will continue with General McChrystal's counterinsurgency strategy in Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Many view President Obama's decision to replace McChrystal with Petraeus as a bold and brilliant political strategy. President Obama was able to shift the focus away from McChrystal and the Rolling Stone article by demonstrating a level of leadership that, up to this point, many wondered if he had.

If the issue were simply a political one, all would be better at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, but it's not. In his June 23 statement in the Rose Garden introducing General Petraeus, President Obama said, "... this is a change in personnel but it is not a change in policy." Mr. President, the policy is the problem. Replacing McChrystal with Petraeus is a new face on a failed strategy. Without a clear and substantive change in policy, a change in leadership is simply rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic or putting lipstick on a pig.

In the June 23 statement, President Obama also said, "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-Qaeda and its leadership, strengthening the ability of both Afghanistan and Pakistan to do the same." To further this effort, President Obama has earmarked $33 billion in the Appropriation Act of 2010. This is no more than throwing good money after bad. It's a bankrupt policy that's bankrupting America.

The Obama administration should learn the lessons of the past and look at the collapse of the former Soviet Union as an indication of where America could be headed. Contrary to popular belief, the Soviet Union did not collapse solely due to America's increases in defense spending and the Soviet's inability to maintain or surpass similar spending levels. It was due in large part to the demands that significant increases in defense spending placed on an already fragile Soviet economic structure. The Soviet economy stagnated during the cold war and later collapsed because of an inability of the Kremlin to meet basic social and market needs as military spending consumed a disproportionate share of resources.

[Gravel Democrat]

1. k/r George W had some things to say once

Not that one...


"The Nation, which indulges towards another an habitual hatred, or an habitual fondness, is in some degree a slave. It is a slave to its animosity or to its affection, either of which is sufficient to lead it astray from its duty and its interest. .... Hence frequent collisions, obstinate, envenomed, and bloody contests.

The Nation, prompted by ill-will and resentment, sometimes impels to war the Government, contrary to the best calculations of policy. The Government sometimes participates in the national propensity, and adopts through passion what reason would reject; at other times, it makes the animosity of the nation subservient to projects of hostility instigated by pride, ambition, and other sinister and pernicious motives. The peace often, sometimes perhaps the liberty, of Nations has been the victim.

Excessive partiality for one foreign nation, and excessive dislike of another, cause those whom they actuate to see danger only on one side, and serve to veil and even second the arts of influence on the other. Real patriots, who may resist the intrigues of the favorite, are liable to become suspected and odious; while its tools and dupes usurp the applause and confidence of the people, to surrender their interests.

http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Washington%27s_Farewell_Address

The Real George W was one of the smartest men to walk the planet. Too bad we don't even celebrate his birthday. Wonder why that is...

[indepat]

2. And a pretty pig it ain't

:P