Counter Insurgency vs. The Surge

Phillip Carter's blog "Intel Dump" over that the Wapo (go figure!). Has a post about how this current tightening of the belt for the military in Iraq. By having to keep up the levels of the surge, Bush in another pointless presser about how he is working hard on Iraq told the press corp he was authorizing reducing the combat tour lengths to 7 months. Short tours are against COIN doctrine and the short tours in 'Nam were well known problem. Here is some of what Phil had to say:

Counterinsurgency requires detailed knowledge of the human, geographic, political and social terrain, and it takes time to acquire that knowledge. I'd say it became effective around the fifth or sixth month of my tour as a police adviser in Iraq. Arguably, advisers, commanders and troops operating outside the wire should serve longer tours in order to develop and cement their relationships, and capitalize on them.

But they can't -- there's a finite limit to the amount of combat that men and women can endure. So we must balance combat effectiveness, and the needs of an all-volunteer force (and its families), against the steep learning curve of counterinsurgency, which demands longer deployments. -- Intel Dump

Even when these guys eak out some minor, miniscule, tiny advantage they immediately think up some way to screw things up.

It's a real dilemma, and I'm not sure how to solve it without drastically increasing the size of the military or sharply curtailing the deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan. -- Phil Carter, Intel Dump.

Keep dreaming Phil you crazy diamond!

Oh, and the body count is back up to almost 2 a day again. Booyah!

There's more...

China Attacks Green Zone

The most senior US general in Iraq has said he has evidence that Iran was behind Sunday's bombardment of Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone.
Gen David Petraeus told the BBC he thought Tehran had trained, equipped and funded insurgents who fired the barrage of mortars and rockets ...
The rockets that were launched at the Green Zone yesterday, for example... were Iranian-provided, Iranian-made rockets," he said, adding that the groups that fired them were funded and trained by the Quds Force. --BBC

This is Dave Petraeus talking completely out of his ass. I wish this guy would just run for office already so I don't have to listen to his bullshit while he is wearing green. The only way they could know who "funded" and/or "equipped" and/or "trained" the insurgents who fired the rockets into the Green Zone is if they caught some and they didn't.

What he is talking about are the rockets that slam into the Green Zone every day. Probably Iranian Haseb or Noor or Hadid rockets. Except they are actually variants of Chinese made rockets, and include some parts from the Chinese! So Dave should also be looking under his bed for those chinamen. Look out Dave, the calls are coming from inside the green zone!

What about the security forces who are doing double duty and are part of the insurgency? They were trained, equipped, and paid by the United States! Let's invade them next.

There's more...

Working The Surge

I would take some comfort from the crowing about the surge working on the right, if I didn't think that the chickenhawk military 'experts' only are concerned with the fact that they weren't wrong. They don't really give a damn whether the Iraqi's begin to govern themselves or it's safer there. They don't give damn if "we're winning". They just are concerned about losing and being proved wrong. Let's be honest this surge did nothing but stop the bleeding, if we had pulled out we would have saved hundreds of American lives and thousands of Iraqi.

It's not really clear if there would have been more Iraqi's dead if we have pulled out. Given the fact that violence is down in the south where we have pulled out, although still seeing 45 murders a day in Basra, the lesson is clear. Troops can't make a difference in that situation anymore. What is needed is more Iraqi police, especially ones that aren't in the pocket of the local militias.

For the military, it is clear to me that they are invested in this because it's military nature not to admit defeat. Never to give up the fight. That's why they fought to have the surge implemented in the first place, they knew time was running out on their strategy. They will never admit their defeat in this insurgency, regardless of the hand they were dealt by the Bush administration. They never really internalized the Vietnam loss, how could they realize this one, which is in its slow motion death throes even now.

The surge is working, in that it kept the people from forcing congress to withdraw. This was its only purpose. Petraeus' purpose was to stall the withdrawal, and that mission was accomplished.

Nothing has changed the dynamic in Iraq and civilian deaths are up 33%.

We would have less loss of life if we had withdrawn, and the situation in Iraq would not have changed. Except perhaps, as Basra teaches us, for the better.

There's more...

Iraq, Never Going to Recover

Bush’s bootlickers on TV and in the GOP are proud to strut around and talk about how the surge is working. How many times do we have to listen to the complete bullshit being peddled by the right and their corporate-media partners in crime? Working? Are you nuts? The entire city of Baghdad has been ethnically cleansed. There are at least 100,000 dead Iraqi’s buried in the ground since the invasion in 2003. We are almost at 4,000 American dead and perhaps 30 to 40,000 wounded. Not counting the broken men and women who will kill themselves and others in the coming decade. 100 women were killed in Basra because they choose to raise their heads and not be chattel. 250 women were murdered in Kirkuk province for the same reason, they were women.

Working? Yeah, okay the completely political General Petraeus managed to install another 30,000 soon to be dead or wounded without Moqtada Al Sadr turning it into a bloodbath. Whoop-dee fucking doo. Perhaps he should get a medal. Not Petraeus, Sadr, because he is the one responsible for the lack of action of late. We have quintupled the amount of bombing we are doing, which always leads to more civilian casualties. There are vehicle curfews whenever there is any sort of religious holiday. The entire country is an armed camp. This country will never recover from this, never. How long before the millions of refugee’s return from Syria and Lebanon?

The 2 biggest losers in this, the worst foreign policy disaster in the history of the United States are Iraq and the United States Armed Forces. Don’t get me wrong, the Iraqi’s have suffered far greater sacrifices here than the big green machine. But you can count on a broken defense force for the next decade. That means no going to help when it’s really needed in a Darfur, or God help us, North Korea. The surge is working? Please, tell that to Specialist John Sigsbee, PFC Sharrett, and PFC Kimme, you might have to speak up though, they just died yesterday and there is no end in sight. Working my ass. Until John McCain can walk down the middle of Haifa street in Baghdad whistling yankee doodle dandy without the accompaniment of the 82nd Airborne division they haven’t done shit.

There's more...

US: Iraqi Bombs Rise In Iraq

EFP - Explosive Formed Projectile
I am re-titling the piece I just saw on CNN.

U.S.: Iranian bombs rise in Iraq -- CNN.com

Attacks against U.S. troops in Iraq with bombs believed linked to Iran -- known as explosively formed penetrators (EFPs) -- have risen sharply in January after several months of decline, according to the top U.S. commander in Iraq.

The Military itself has said these are being made in Iraq not Iran. They have found manufacturing sites for them in Baghdad. Its a simple process. They are heavy and expensive to ship. I know we keep trying to gin up reasons to attack Iran since the Monty Python-esque Speedboat Liars for Truth were exposed, but why are we re-running this old bunch of crap?

Gen. David Petraeus disclosed the reversal to reporters after a meeting with President Bush who was visiting troops in Kuwait.

"In this year, EFPs have gone up, actually, over the last 10 days by a factor of two or three, and frankly we're trying to determine why that might be," Petraeus said.

Ah... Thats why. Bush is making Petraeus say it in order to increase tensions with Iran. Its incredible that CNN just gobbles these stories up. Is it possible that someone at CNN could use google just once before buying hook, line and sinker into one of these bullshit fantasies fueled by Dick Cheney's imagination and war lust.

These devices are very simple to manufacture. The Iraqi's rebuild Mercedes Benz's, I think creating a copper disk isn't that much of a stretch and why ship something a 1,000 miles when you can make it in Uncle Ahmed's machine shop down the street?

There's more...

Generalissimo Dave PetraeusSupreme Commander of Everything

This is a very bad idea:

The Army has summoned the top U.S. commander in Iraq back to Washington to preside over a board that will pick some of the next generation of Army leaders, an unusual decision that officials say represents a vote of confidence in Gen. David H. Petraeus's conduct of the war, as well as the Army counterinsurgency doctrine he helped rewrite.

The Army has long been criticized for rewarding conventional military thinking and experience in traditional combat operations, and current and former defense officials have pointed to Petraeus's involvement in the promotion board process this month as a sign of the Army's commitment to encouraging innovation and rewarding skills beyond the battlefield. -- WashingtonPost.com

I will agree that the selection process for Generals is broken, in fact, it sucks. The military loses a lot of good people because they don't want to even try.

But all this is going to do is allow Petraeus to select either A. Overly political self serving people like himself. Or B. Pick weak willed boot-lickers who support Dave Petraeus.

Lets not pretend this guy is skilled at either being a general or picking them. He abandoned Tel Afar to the tribes long before they were ready, it lead to a small scale civil war fueled by weapons he handed out to anyone who wanted one. Speaking of weapons, it was on his watch that almost 200,000 weapons went missing, including large amounts of ammunition. Don't contribute the current reduction in violence to the surge, besides the fact that it wasn't his strategy anyway it came out of the Whitehouse. Which is probably where the idea to have Generalissimo Petraeus decide all matters military came from too. No, the surge is not responsible for the current reduction in KIA (more on that later.) And we have gone over the unnecessary COIN manual rewrite. Putting this guy in charge is just more bad news for the officer corp.

This is an unprecedented and unusual move from the pentagon and, quite possibly, a disaster for military. Imagine a Pentagon packed with Petraeus loving generals when he runs for President, which he is rumored to be exploring.

There's more...

190,000 Weapons lost in Iraq

As we have covered here before:

190,000

Weapons were sold lost by U.S. Military officers in Iraq apparently within hours or days of arriving by plane. -- nytimes.com

Already there is evidence that some American-supplied weapons fell into the hands of guerrillas responsible for attacks against Turkey

Gosh, ya think?!?

Many of those weapons were issued when Gen. David H. Petraeus, now the top American commander in Iraq, was responsible for training and equipping Iraqi security forces in 2004 and 2005.

Oh, I am so surprised that this incompetence has a name. I suppose this was in the COIN manual he wrote. Section 5-23: "Do such a incredibly bad job managing things that weapons are handed to every malcontent, loser, and terrorist who wants one". I guess I missed that chapter in the manual too. It doesn't look like David was alone in his fuck-ups though:

Maj. John Isgrigg III and Maj. Timmy W. Cox were assigned to issue weapons to the Iraqi military and national guard from early 2004 to 2005...[snip]..."We had folks getting killed because equipment wasn’t moving," said Col. Randy Hinton, the majors’ superior officer. Were there times when all the right forms were not signed? Probably. But we had a mission to do, and we were going to do it the best way we could at that time.

Best job you could? WE'RE TALKING ABOUT 190,000 WEAPONS, MAJOR! THATS 2 FOR EVERY INSURGENT!

"folks getting killed because equipment wasn’t moving."

I gotta tell ya, that sounds like complete fucking bullshit. These officers need to be court martial-ed. This shit is just out of control over there. U.S. bank accounts need to be frozen for all these people involved. A war zone is a ripe for pickings by slick operators. These logistic systems that these officers bypassed are in place for exactly these reasons. This a complete failure all the way up the chain of command. We aren't talking about Lieutenants and Captains here and we aren't talking about chump change. Somebody got rich, and it sounds like a lot of somebodies. Make no mistake, bullets from these very guns are in the bodies of U.S. soldiers. They should hang whomever is responsible.

There's more...

Gen. Petraeus, Plagarist?

Danger Room is reporting that Prof. David Price has looked a little more closely at Dave Petraeus's COIN manual and found a lot of theft cribbing has been going on:

While some in this group are producing interesting quality studies of the military and intelligence community, the Manual shows the sort of low quality work that can pass as "innovative" uses of anthropology for the military. Chapter three reads like the work of lazy C students, taking phrases and sentences promiscuously from various sources, cobbling them together into a sort of Cliffs Notes version of anthropology, which the University of Chicago Press has now laundered into a book posing as an object of academic respectability.

It seems the General "Integrity" Petraeus copied a whole bunch of other peoples' work and printed it up. Like I said before, I wondered who the hell asked him to rewrite the thing anything. Its not like he was an expert. Hell, now its clear he didn't know enough about it to actually come up with anything original in the first place!

The Manual's PR campaign has been extraordinary. In a Daily Show interview, John Nagl hammed it up in uniform with Jon Stewart, but amidst the banter Nagl stayed on mission and described how Gen. Petraeus collected a "team of writers [who] produced the [Manual] strategy that General Petraeus is implementing in Iraq now." When Jon Stewart commented on the speed at which the Manual was produced, Nagl remarked that this was "very fast for an Army field manual; the process usually takes a couple of years";
-- counterpunch.com

I saw Lt Col. "Tightass" Nagl on the daily show. Stiff doesn't begin to describe this guy. Now he is running around trying to defend Petraeus. I love how to big up Petraeus, the COIN manual was portrayed as Petraeus' work, but now that there are some questions they are saying, "oh, no, it was a bunch of guys who wrote it."

Price describes the failure to cite all sources used in the manual as evidence of “shoddy academic practices”, but in fact he is applying the standards of one society to those of a very different one—a violation of the anthropological norm of cultural relativism as I understand it. To paraphrase von Clausewitz, military Field Manuals have their own grammar and their own logic. They are not doctoral dissertations, designed to be read by few and judged largely for the quality of their sourcing; instead, they are intended for use by soldiers. Thus authors are not named.
-- DangerRoom

Their own grammar and logic, not somebody else's! These guys are unbelievable, "We stole other peoples work and didn't attribute them because its a military manual, not a book..." WTF? Then he has the balls to say that's why the authors are not named. They have been pimping that Petraeus re-wrote this thing for almost a year now! This tightass Nagl was on the fucking Daily Show!

I suppose we can expect Boylan to pop up and start attacking people now. Greenwald better start saving his emails again. Its no wonder Petraus gets along so well with the C-minus Augustus they are cut from the same cloth.

There's more...

Mr. Counterinsurgency, Dave Petraeus

Lets all pause and remember that it was the current commander in Iraq, General Petraeus who re-wrote the Counter Insurgency manual. Lets read a bit of it shall we?

F-8. The employment of air-power in the strike role should be done with exceptional care. Bombing, even with the most precise weapons, can cause unintended civilian casualties. The benefits of every air strike should be weighed against the risks, the primary danger being collateral damage that turns the population against the government and provides the insurgents with a major propaganda victory. Even when justified under the law of war, bombing a target that results in civilian casualties will bring media coverage that works to the benefit of the insurgents. A standard insurgent and terrorist tactic for decades against Israel has been to fire rockets or artillery from the vicinity of a school or village in the hope that the Israelis would carry out a retaliatory air strike that kills or wounds civilians-who are then displayed to the world media as victims of aggression. Insurgents and terrorists elsewhere have shown few qualms in provoking attacks that ensure civilian casualties if such attacks fuel anti-government and anti-U.S. propaganda. Indeed, insurgents today can be expected to use the civilian population as a cover for their activities.

F-9. Even in a clear case of taking out an insurgent headquarters or command center, care has to be taken to accomplish the mission while minimizing civilian casualties. New, precise munitions with smaller blast effects have been developed and employed to limit collateral damage. There are other means, as well. At the start of the campaign in Afghanistan in 2001, U.S. intelligence identified Taliban armored vehicles parked in built up areas. A miss, or even a direct hit, by a precision weapon would be likely to kill civilians and give the Taliban a propaganda advantage. The United States Air Force (USAF) came up with the idea of employing concrete-filled practice bombs with precision guidance against such Taliban weapons systems. If the bomb hit the target, the kinetic energy of 2,000-pounds of steel and concrete dropped from the air would assure destruction. If the bomb missed the target, it would bury itself deep in the ground with no explosion and little chance of major collateral damage. The destruction of the weapons systems was accomplished without any collateral damage that could have turned the population against the U.S. and multinational forces.

790%

Percentage increase to date of Bombing Sorties in Iraq over 2006. Jan-Sep 2006 = 125, Sorties to date - 2007, 995. Numbers do not include Marine Corp operations in al Anbar.

Now October looks like another very low casualties month, with 33 month to date. The lowest for all of 2007. Is General Petraeus having his men hunker down and having the Air Force take over counter insurgency duties in Iraq? If so, does he really think that he can keep that up until January 2009? Because Bush is not pulling out. No matter how 'good' it gets in Iraq Little Boots will not pull out. He is much too stupid. I looked and looked in the COIN manual and didn't find the 'hide and bomb the shit out of them' strategy anywhere. Maybe my kerning was off or something.

sources: Fred Kaplan at Slate.com and Noah Shachtman at Wired's Danger Room and of course Iraq Coalition Casualties

There's more...

WORLD PREMIERE—Yes, Another New Group News Blog Video Production!

About a week and a half ago. post-General Petraeus' dizzying dervish-work at those tables in the Senate and House, I cited the GOP's (and in spite of Petraeus' so-called independence as a member of the military, he has been little more than a GOP operative—a Hannity—albeit with actual courage, in olive drab.) laughable, delusional spin on what's going on—or rather, not going on in the desert idyll that is Iraq.

The shill that came to mind for me, was the “happy-talkiing” ROTC'er “Chip Diller” from National Lampoon's Animal House. Kevin Bacon's character standing there as the whole downtown began to come apart around him, at first smiling, reassuringly saying “All is well”, and then, when the smoke-bombs went off, and floats split apart, revealing hell-spawned “Deathmobiles”, and pirates with swords swung 'cross main street, he stamped his feet and squealed “ALL IS WELL! ALL IS WELL!” at the top of his lungs.

I saw that uniform, and I saw David Petraeus. A callow mouthpiece for his frat-boy bosses.

Sound familiar?

And then, mere days after his rose-colored, coke bottle-viewed analysis and report, I get a CNN headline reading:

“24 die in Iraq peace meeting blast”

“24 DIE IN IRAQ PEACE MEETING BLAST” ?!

What the fuck do you say behind that sort of shovel-to-the-back-of-the-head irony?

Nothing. Words can't do it.

You have to laugh. To keep from crying. I watched Animal House this weekend. Checked out a little SCTV, too. Chip Diller screaming. Joe Flaherty howling “The irony! The irony, man!”

And it was a ”Reese's Peanut Butter Cup“ moment.

“You got your Animal House in my SCTV! Well your SCTV is in my Animal House!”

So, without any further ado, O', YouTube fiends...

“All Is Well” with “Chip” Petraeus

There's more...

A Man You've Gotta Love...

Firing Lethal, Bullet-Like Questions At Wingnuts

Oh, okay...so the pic above isn't actually MSNBC's David Shuster—the network's fast-rising news personality has still got many of the attributes of the moody, tough as nails Clive Owen.

He's cool under pressure.

He's got that kind of “everyman”-ish charm.

And he's able to slip on the bad-ass mantle at the drop of a hat.

The latter was unfortunately discovered by Tennessee's poor, vapid, freeper congress-bot Marsha Blackburn, as she came on as a guest during David's fill-in stint for the oleaginous Tucker Carlson, to spin the still-wet-from-just-being-mimeo-ed GOP bullet points of Petraeus-worship/MoveOn hate.

In fact, I'd be surprised if the GOP didn't push their distinguished idiot gentlemen to try to somehow sanction MSNBC for how brutally he smacked her attempts at spin, silly. I think the poor wingnut blow-up-doll needs some smelling salts. Or a defibrillator, after Shuster's manhandling

SHUSTER: “Let’s talk about the public trust. You represent, of course, a district in western Tennessee. What was the name of the last solider from your district who was killed in Iraq?”


BLACKBURN: ”The name of the last soldier killed in Iraq uh - from my district I - I do not know his name -”


SHUSTER: “Ok, his name was Jeremy Bohannon, he was killed August the 9th, 2007. How come you didn’t know the name?”


BLACKBURN: “I - I, you know, I - I do not know why I did not know the name…”

_______________________________


SHUSTER: “But you weren’t appreciative enough to know the name of this young man, he was 18 years old who was killed, and yet you can say chapter and verse about what’s going on with the New York Times and Move On.org.”

------------------------------------------------------


SHUSTER: “But don’t you understand, the problems that a lot of people would have, that you’re so focused on an ad — when was the last time a New York Times ad ever killed somebody? I mean, here we have a war that took the life of an 18 year old kid, Jeremy Bohannon from your district, and you didn’t even know his name.”

“Fifteen yards...roughing the freeper...penalty is denied. Ball changes possession on downs.”

And what makes Shuster's helmet-to-helmet, open-field spin-tackle so sweet is that we may well be seeing more of it. As you may have heard, MSNBC is going through an on-air shake-up, with Dan Abrams losing moving from his job as General Manager back to the studio as a host, ostensibly to shore up the post-Imus shift of Joe Scarborough to the mornings, and to work harder at keeping the ratings and new viewers Keith Olbermann has ramped up. The other custard-soft spot in the line-up is the “Tucker” 6 p.m. slot.

Tucker's been away quite a bit lately, shooting a pilot and several test episodes for a game show for CBS/Viacom. And when the “*Quizmaster's” has been on, he's been gobs more pissy than usual, perhaps because of the increasing publicity over his shitty numbers dragging down the network's otherwise booming ratings.

Meanwhile, Shuster gets the big “Breaking News” gigs for big stories in the Beltway, as well as getting prime exposure as a special correspondent on the network's biggest, and hottest show, Keith Olbermann's “Countdown”

And he gets the fill-in slot when Tucker's away sulking and worrying about Hillary snatching his wee nads away, and makes news doing it with stories like the fricasseeing of Blackburn and O'Reilly, and Cheney fellaters like the cock-eyed Ron Christie.

The last time Tucker made news, it was because Jon Stewart called him “an asshole” and no one could rebut it. The rumor mill at the peacock has it that Tucker's pissed because the network “isn't promoting him enough”, setting him up for the chopping block, while network marketing people feel they have nothing to promote in a pissy, un-funny, unlikable hack. My sources say he won't make it past Christmas—and Dan Abrams' departure from being upstairs with the suits makes it easier, as Dan was a big champion of the chair-dancing little piss-pot anyway. What keeps Tucky in place at present is the reticence in making his daddy, (Richard Warner Carlson) an old-school GOP bigwig, and former broadcasting exec mad—or madder than he already is over the mishandling of his boy's “career” by “outside forces”.

But Shuster's a rising star at the Peacock's cable outlet, again coming with the imprimatur of Olbermann, and a much more obvious “hard news”, and less “shill for 'x' side” cast than the increasingly bitter (in the face of his party's implosion) Tucker.

Plus, it doesn't help that Tucker couldn't generate a story if he had a live feed of Bigfoot riding Nessie with baubles from the Lost City Of Atlantis in one hand, while pointing to a flaming chariot-riding Jesus bursting from a thundercloud. He tries...day after day to matter, latching onto his “I'm gonna ratfuck the Dems with this one” stories of the day, and spins them so hard, and so badly that they snap their lines like errant “Napoleon Dynamite” tether balls and go bounding into the “Who gives a damn?” cornfield—never to be seen again.

While Shuster brings us tasty, “Oh, fuuuuuck!” for the other side morsels like this one:

“If you've been watching cable news programs lately, you may have noticed the disappearance of a certain breed of guest: Specifically, Republican Senators who are up for reelection...”

"Interview invitations that we provide almost daily to these Senators are now routinely turned down. The answer appears to be Iraq. These lawmakers have voted to keep the war going but when it comes to explaining their votes on programs like this one, well, forget about it...”

“They've come out with public statements and press releases, but when it comes down to brass tacks, they have voted to keep the war going indefinitely.”

One guy makes news because someone called him “an asshole”, and he couldn't refute it.

The other guy just makes news via his honest, and tough reporting.

Let's give a little dap to Mr. Shuster as he continues to make his mark, keep the spinners honest, and relegates Mr. Carlson to Ted Baxter “Quizmaster” status.

And here's a pic of the not-bad lookin' Mr. Shuster himself:



I hear he even gets out of his chair when he dances, too! :)

There's more...

Fox Pimps Petraeus

Gotta love suck-ups. Kissing presidential ass.

Looks like Fox News has got us in a little bit of Spin Trouble. Good thing we've got us some - - “Surge Seasoning”. Oh yeah baby --- mmmm mmmm --- that is tasty.

There's more...

General Petraeus: REMF, Ass-kisser, Jinxed

Petraeus' Distinguished Career Sucking Ass (Theirs) & Covering Ass (His) (Also a lesson on the Military)

GNB Comments (Tyler)

Not a good sign................ especially as his actual combat record is rather paltry, shall we say.

lol whut?

I don't like the guy going up there and lying for an agenda, but I hate to have to keep playing Devil's Advocate because some of you fools don't know how to actually research shit instead of trying to sound pithy.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petraeus

If you guys want to rewrite history, do it on someone else's watch. Otherwise, you're no better then the LGF idiots who turn on people because they're not "true believers".

I still insist we're better then that.

We old fucks with more experience in the shit than you do are -- as usual -- right about this and you're very very wrong. Time for the schooling.

Being able to look up a Wikipedia page doesn't mean you understand what you're reading, rook. Do you think we're a bunch of unread illiterate dumb shits here at GNB? Seriously?

I was going to wait to the weekend to write this post for when I have more time. But then I figured Hubris would just scoop me, given it's military. And a chance to beat a rookie about the head and shoulders in public, simply doesn't fall into my hands every day. *rubs hands in joyous anticipation*

This, mind you, is written only using Petraeus' Wikipedia entry. Just that. Only that. Want to go out and play with other stuff, there's no shortage of shit to dig up. Petraeus hasn't precisely covered his tracks; it's all there on his chest for anyone with eyes to read.

Bottom line on Petaeus, he's as close to being a genuine REMF as you can be in today's 4-star general. He's managed to avoid actual combat to a level which has to be seen to be believed, while having his lips firmly attached to the ass of every superior officer and staff position that could get him promoted, all while keeping his own body safely out of harm's way.

At the same time, he's a serious danger to be around, personally. He keeps getting himself near killed. In accidents no less, far far away from the field of combat. The man is jinxed. And if you think that's not real, something to pay very fucking serious attention to in combat arms, then think again. I'd much rather serve with a commander who's lucky than good. No kidding. This guy is neither.

Let's go to the tape.

Right from the very start, Petraeus wasn't worried his classmates at West Point would think he was just an ass-kissing prick using women to advance his military career. After all, love is love and the son of a Dutch sea-captain immigrant to the United States can fall in love way, way, WAY above his station...it's only love, not social & military-political climbing. Only a cad would think otherwise.

Wikipedia

In the class yearbook, Petraeus was remembered as "always going for it in sports, academics, leadership, and even his social life."[5]

Two months after graduation Petraeus married Holly Knowlton, a graduate from Dickinson College and daughter of retired Army General William A. Knowlton who was superintendent of the U.S. Military Academy (West Point) at the time.

Get Petraeus out into the field, he gets hurt. Not in combat, oh no. He stays the hell away from combat. This idiot gets hurt in training accidents and having fun. Over and over again. Once again, let's go to the...well damn, I really do wish we had video tape.

Wikipedia

Upon promotion to lieutenant colonel, Petraeus moved from the office of the Chief of Staff to Fort Campbell, Kentucky, where he commanded the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault)'s 3rd Battalion, 187th Infantry Regiment from 1991–1993. As battalion commander of the Iron Rakkasans, he suffered one of the more dramatic incidents in his career when, in 1991, he was accidentally shot in the chest during a live-fire exercise when a soldier tripped and his rifle discharged. He was taken to Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, Tennessee, where he was operated on by future Senator Bill Frist. The hospital released him early after he did fifty push ups without resting, just a few days after the accident. [8][9]

In 1999, as a brigadier general, Petraeus returned to the 82nd, serving as the assistant division commander for operations and then, briefly, as acting commanding general. From the 82nd, he moved on to serve as Chief of Staff of XVIII Airborne Corps at Fort Bragg during 2000–2001. In 2000, Petraeus suffered his second major injury, when, during a civilian skydiving jump, his parachute collapsed at low altitude due to a hook turn, resulting in a hard landing that broke his pelvis.

Jinxed!

Do you want this guy next to you on a mission? Me neither. Fortunately as a 4-star, he's got a medical team on call. Plus full-time security to keep him safe.

But, you say, surely he's been in combat? He's a general. Well sure. But combat, well, not so much.

See, there's combat...and then there's COMBAT. Being assigned to Iraq as a cook in one of the big concrete forts counts as combat duty. So does being lead gunner on an under-armored Humvee doing escort duty on the death highway out of the airport. Choose one.

General (well, not a general then) Petraeus always choose the option designed to keep his ass far, far away from the line of fire.

Now there's absolutely nothing wrong -- let me be VERY clear about this -- with not being out there where men with sharp objects and guns try and hurt you. Personally, I try and stay away from them and recommend you do as well. Iraq is not on my 2008 Summer of Love tour, and neither is Iran. We are not live-blogging from the Green Zone. (Well, perhaps. Err, no. Damn. Hubris, shhh. No, we're not...talking about this today, anyway.) Not my point. My point is, there's nothing wrong about y'all staying the hell away combat zones. You should. But professional soldiers, ah, well...

There are two kinds of soldiers in the Army. Field and rear echelon. Fighters and kiss-asses. Ones you actually trust to cover your back when the shit hits the fan... and then there's the other kind. Grunts v. Rear Echelon Mother Fuckers...REMFs.

Grunts live out on the sharp end in the dust and the mud (often both at once, don't ask), eating shit on a shingle, thanking the Gods Cookie managed them a hot meal even if it's 114 degrees, concerned about humping enough ammo, where are the fucking grenades, getting dustoff, and the surprise we've got for that asshole sniper of theirs ha-ha-ha mother-fucker eat shit and die. And maps. Maps are always good. "We need more fucking maps. Send BJ back to HQ on the supply bird and tell him not to come back till he's got those fucking cock-suckers at S3 to give us more maps, even if he has to tell Capt. Richardson we've got photos of him on R&R his wife would hate to see, and so would both his girlfriends. Tell him the whole fucking internet will see them if we don't get us some FUCKING MAPS. Also, tell Papa he owes me from that three of a kind jacks high, so ante up two, uh, three. Three cases of beer for my men. Also tell BJ to stop by the 47th CSH and check on Tommy, Shooter & Joseph. See if Junior's out of surgery yet and tell him he's got a Bronze Star and a I Forgot to Duck Fool as soon as I get back there to give them to him, and also I'm writing him up for a Silver as well, but that has to go all the way to I Corp headquarters. Give the flight crew a bottle of whatever they're drinking, personally from me. Then have BJ get his ass back here with my maps. And... perhaps a few bottles for my officers also. What? Nothing. Shit... Well, I could use a book. Science fiction anything. Or some Kipling; whatever. A book dude, something to read, I don't care. Have him move his rook ass; and try not to fall out of the helicopter. Now scoot."

v.

Clean-cut all American assholes greasing the knob of their superiors back inside the wire, wearing a nice clean shiny uniform and reading the Army Times while lackies scurry around looking busy as he chows down on a 14 oz prime New York steak with mushrooms and a vegetable side dish. See the scene in Apocalypse Now where Cpt. Willard (Martin Sheen) is being given his orders to go up river. Remember? All nice and shiny and extra-clean? Hell, there's even a steak and some shrimps. But they never say, "Go kill him." No, it's "Terminate with extreme prejudice." That's REMF talk. All nice and purty. Except REMF's don't say "purty." If you say words like "purty" around REMFs, they look at you like you're very stupid. I mean, differently-abled. Then they pretend not to see you.

David Petraeus is a REMF. His first combat of any kind didn't happen till he was a 2-star general in command of the 101st Airborne Division.

I served as a medic with the 101st from 1977-1999 in Hq & Hq Co, 326th Med Bn. Went to Europe on Reforger, down to Ft. Bragg on exercises, played with 5th Group when they dropped in for some fun, fucked around on the back ranges, flew all over the middle of the U.S. on MAST missions in our Air Ambulance helicopters doing real life missions, worked with the Air Assault school as their medic, picked up body parts after range accidents, put together Ft. Campbell Army Hospital's first ever intermediate EMT training program, humped all over the fucking fort, ran my ass off on morning PT and on weekends for grins, got laid all over the place, and just generally had a lot of fun. But there wasn't any division or battalion level combat happening or we would have gone. Fast.

You know who did see combat while I was dicking around on training missions? Special Forces. They were down in the jungle shooting the shit out of people, winning hearts and minds all over the world. *smiles sweetly* In 1980, when I was out of the active Army, people deployed to Panama, had themselves some fun. I was gone. Then there were some other actions throughout the 80s and into the 90s. My reserve unit, the 374th Air Ambulance Detachment, USAR got to go to Iraq in 2001, but I was long out of the reserves by then.

There was also Haiti which our David boy didn't bother to go see during the shooting; only during the peace keeping. Which of course can be tricky. But Peace-Keeping Missions just aren't really the same danger as actual combat, no matter how much it feels risky. Just like being a paramedic in Oakland and Houston -- that's me -- isn't at all the same danger as being a grunt medic taking incoming fire in Iraq. And don't think I or anyone who had been there doesn't know or appreciate the difference. That difference is all the fucking difference.

Oakland/Houston v. Iraq? Petraeus's peace keeping missions v. real combat? It's the difference between being finger-fucked and getting laid, between having a gang-banger try and cap you on the run or the occasional gun pointed at you by a drunk, and having a platoon ambush go off in your fucking face while three IEDs simultaneously toss your only vehicles upside down on top of your position. The only good news is, at least now you have some cover for the withering fire pouring from the second stories directly down onto the five people still left alive from your squad. And oh yeah, all your spare ammo's in the the vehicles which are on fucking fire. Ready, set, GO.

Petraeus ain't never been in the shit. Hey... maybe the weaselly fucker ain't jinxed after all. Or perhaps he just stays the hell away from actual combat. Hmmm. Let's keep checking this shit out. Perhaps I'm being too hard on the man.

There were little flare-ups here and there, shooting actions all the fuck all over the globe where the U.S. sent in troops. Lots and lots and lots of soldiers went and saw the elephant from the late 70's to 2003 in Iraq.

Our own Hubris Sonic did. Lots of folk right here on GNB went too, in Korea, Vietnam, and countless little brushups and brushfires all over the fucking place. I wasn't on military service right then. I got lucky. All my military service was in units set to deploy instantly to hot spots. During active duty we were typically on 24 to 72 hour status. (The 82nd had a faster response time, as did [does] the special ops kids. But not by much.) By the grace of the Gods, my service time fell precisely outside of the box of when the U.S. sent my sized units to war. One year later and I too would have deployed and been shot at in anger with military weapons. Because I'm not a right-wing Republican chicken-hawk idiot, I'm very grateful I got lucky, not sad I missed out on the "beauty of testing my manhood in the ultimate crucible of battle."

(Those right-wingers really are sick fucking bastards, you know? Only people who never are going to war -- mostly because they do everything they can to avoid it -- can talk such absolute bullshit as they cheer on other people's children to go die to increase the returns of their own portfolios. What's even sicker is, they would cheer on war even if it wasn't making them more money. They just get that extra little thrill knowing they're making more money and they get to help kill poor people through doing so.)

But let's get back to Petraeus and his avoiding combat back when, as a junior or even a field-grade officer, he would have been the guy out in front with the troops. That's the thing about being an infantry officer. People shoot at you in combat. But not if you're not IN combat. Huh. Well shit, then -- don't want to get guns pointed at you? Just avoid combat. Hell, even I can figure that one out. But no...

Even as a fucking civilian right here in America's ghettos, I managed to get shot at and have more guns shot and knives pointed at me (and used in anger against me) than I can count, working as medic. But you know who never ever had a fucking gun fired at him in anger? Even though he was a full-time professional career fucking soldier on the fast-track to the top? Yep. Not all the way from when he was 17 till he was "The Old Man" in charge of the full-goddamn-101st Air-fucking-born-fucking-Division in all their mother-fucking glory in 2003? General David Fucking Betrayus (oops, that slipped out; of course I meant) Petraeus.

If he'd wanted to see combat, believe me, he could have seen combat. Any soldier as talented as he was at working his superiors, er, moving through the Pentagon, could have gone to war any time he requested it. He didn't fucking want it.

But no way was he ever getting 3 or 4 stars without a combat command, a major one. So he did the next best thing. He waited...and waited...and waited... and finally when a GOOD war came along. One he could stage manage his command, he wrapped himself with a talented staff, put himself with a heroic division in a can't lose mission WITH LOTS AND LOTS OF REPORTERS TO WATCH HIM, and went to work. And even then he almost fucked it up. Check it:

Wikipedia

In 2003, Petraeus, then a major general, commanded the 101st Airborne Division during V Corps's drive to Baghdad. In a campaign chronicled in detail by Rick Atkinson of the Washington Post's book In the Company of Soldiers, Petraeus led his division through fighting in Karbala, Hilla, and Najaf (where he came under fire during an ambush by Iraqi paramilitary forces). The 101st was not, as had been expected ^{[citation needed]}, called upon to lead urban combat in Baghdad, leading to some limited criticism of the division's role in the campaign. Instead, as V Corps's lines of supply came under threat from attacks by irregular forces in the cities of the Euphrates river valley, the division's three brigades, reinforced by an armored battalion, took the lead in clearing the cities of Najaf, Karbala, and Hilla. Other notable roles filled by the 101st during the campaign included an armed feint toward Hilla to cover the 3rd Infantry Division (Mechanized)'s drive through the Karbala Gap, an armed reconnaissance by the division's brigade of Apache attack helicopters, and the relief of beleaguered elements of the 75th Ranger Regiment at the Haditha Dam. Following the fall of Baghdad, the division conducted the longest heliborne assault on record in order to reach Nineveh Province, where it would spend much of the next year (the 1st Brigade was responsible for the area south of Mosul, the 2nd Brigade for the city itself, and the 3rd Brigade for the region stretching toward the Syrian border).

An often-repeated story ^{[citation needed]} of Petraeus's time with the 101st is his habit of asking embedded reporters to "Tell me where this ends," an anecdote many journalists ^{[citation needed]} have used to portray Petraeus as an early recognizer of the difficulties that would follow the fall of Baghdad. Indeed, it was during the year after the invasion that Petraeus and the 101st gained fame for their performance in Iraq, not for the combat operations in Karbala and Najaf but for the rebuilding and administration of Mosul and Nineveh Province. Described by one former subordinate as "the most competitive man on earth,"^{[citation needed]} and by another as "phenomenal at getting people to reach their potential" ^{[citation needed]}; these two traits of intensity and cultivation of subordinate officers have widely been reported ^{[citation needed]} as key to his period of command in Mosul. Petraeus oversaw a program of public works projects and political reinvigoration ^{[citation needed]} in Mosul, which was one of the most peaceful cities in Iraq during the first year of the war. (One of Petraeus' catch phrases during this period was, "Money is ammunition," supporting the use of commanders' discretionary funds for public works.)^[9] One of his major public works was the restoration and re-opening of the University of Mosul. During 2004, after the 101st replacement by I Corps's Task Force Olympia, Mosul became a major battleground in the fight against the Sunni insurgency that erupted that spring. Petraeus and his supporters point to the assassination of the governor of Nineveh the following July, five months after the 101st departed, as the catalyst for the 2004 violence, not the unit's redeployment.

In June 2004, less than six months after the 101st returned to the U.S., Petraeus was promoted to lieutenant general and charged with the task of training the new Iraqi Army and security forces as commander of the Multi-National Security Transition Command Iraq. During his stay at MNSTC-I, Petraeus oversaw the expansion of Iraqi military and police from nearly zero-strength to considerable size. ^{[citation needed]}

In September 2004, Petraeus wrote an article for the Washington Post in which he lauded the progress he said was being made by Iraqi security forces. The article was criticized by Paul Krugman in his column of July 19, 2007: "General Petraeus, without saying anything falsifiable, conveyed the totally misleading impression, highly convenient for his political masters, that victory was just around the corner." [1]

Critics have also pointed to the incomplete state of the Iraqi forces at the time Petraeus handed the command over to Lt. Gen. in September 2005.

What does all this mean?

Petraeus thought he could take the 101st and march them through Iraq, take Baghdad, and be the war's freaking hero. He had a Washington Post hot-shot along embedded to write a BOOK staring Petraeus. Jesus fucking H. Christ. Petaeus of course has been cultivating the media forever, witness it was his brigade which Tom Clancy stared in Clancy's book, Airborne. Talk about serious ass-kissing. Petraeus and the Post were hoping for some more mutual anal smooches leading to promotions and awards for everyone, but alas, both got sidetracked when Petraeus was literally sidetracked when V Corp sent the 101st away from Baghadad to clear some towns. NOT glamorous. And potentially dangerous.

The thing is though, being the commanding general of a division is a pretty safe job. Even something as dangerous as clearing small towns. That's why you have brigade commanders. Send their asses in to harm's way. Especially if you can be "reinforced by an armored battalion" which the 101st was. So it all worked out okay, and the story turned out nicely heroic. Our boy even earned a Bronze Star, about which, more later. (No, I won't question how he earned it; the details aren't in Wikipedia, and we're staying single source here, I told you.)

To be clear, Petraeus's job as DIV CO is to stay back, nice and safe, and give both strategic orders, mostly, and a few tactical commands, occasionally. He is NOT to expose himself. We've got literally millions and millions invested in his career, not to be wasted in giving a sniper a free shot by him leading from the front. Personal courage in senior officers is assumed, and here I am, blogger, mocking him. *gasps*

Well yes, I am. *laughs*

I'm not just mocking him. I think he's an asshole. A lead-from-behind asshole who has his nose so far up his superiors assholes he can tell what they ate two days ago. Real soldiers tell their bosses when the news is bad. When it isn't working. And sometime before they're a major general, they've risked their life for their men.

Once the combat operations were over however, Wikipedia tells us, he seemed to have done a fairly good job in spending money to build up civil infrastructure. He got good press anyway.

But we can't tell the truth from here, can we? Wikipedia is BASED ON, BIASED AROUND PRESS AND BOOK REPORTS. And who is it that Petraeus sucks up to when he's not polishing the knob of his own superiors? Oh yeah -- journalists. Still trust those admiring news reports do you?

Even assuming they're true, what they tell us is, he did okay in his one combat action (V Corp kept him away from the big stuff). Afterwards, he did much better in building up infrastructure. Even these "accomplishments" however are challenged by people such as Paul Krugman who say Petraeus didn't lie on the facts, but spun them so hard you can't trust his conclusions, and his conclusion was all about sucking up the political powers above him. Gee Gidge, haven't we been seeing Petraeus going after the big prize ever since he blew into town and spun away with that virgin prize Miss. Holly Knowlton, the Superintendent's daughter?

How is this different?

Now let's talk about that chest full of medals, so impressive to non-military people. For example, Republican Senators and Congressman.

Wikipedia

U.S. military decorations

• Defense Distinguished Service Medal
• Distinguished Service Medal (with Oak Leaf Clusters)
• Defense Superior Service Medal (with Oak Leaf Clusters)
• Legion of Merit (with 3 Oak Leaf Clusters)
• Bronze Star Medal (with “V” Device)
• Defense Meritorious Service Medal
• Meritorious Service Medal (with 2 Oak Leaf Clusters)
• Joint Service Commendation Medal
• Army Commendation Medal (with 2 Oak Leaf Clusters)
• Joint Service Achievement Medal
• Army Achievement Medal

U.S. unit awards

• Joint Meritorious Unit Award (with 3 Oak Leaf Clusters)
• Army Meritorious Unit Commendation
• Army Superior Unit Award

U.S. non-military decorations

• State Department Superior Honor Award

U.S. service (campaign) medals and service and training ribbons

• National Defense Service Medal (with 2 Service Stars)
• Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary Medal
• Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal
• Iraq Campaign Medal
• Armed Forces Service Medal
• Humanitarian Service Medal
• Army Service Ribbon
• Army Overseas Service Ribbon (with 2 Oak Leaf Clusters)

U.S. badges, patches and tabs

• Combat Action Badge
• Expert Infantryman Badge
• Master Parachutist Badge
• Air Assault Badge
• Joint Chiefs of Staff Identification Badge
• Army Staff Identification Badge
• Ranger Tab
• Multi-National Force—Iraq Patch
• 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) Patch

Foreign military decorations

• Gold Award of the Iraqi Order of the Date Palm

Foreign badges, patches and tabs

• British Parachutist Badge
• French Parachutist Badge
• German Parachutist Badge

Non-U.S. service medals and ribbons

• United Nations Mission in Haiti (UNMIH) Medal^[30]
• NATO Meritorious Service Medal

Damn. Looks impressive.

Ain't.

Anyone who's in the Army or any branch of service for decades will have pounds of fruit salad. Want to know what impresses me?

What a fucking wimp this guy's been. What is clear from Petraeus's fruit salad is how he's managed to stay far, far from harm's way.

Just as there are two kinds of military people, Grunts (infantry, armor, artillery, special operations [special forces, rangers, cag], and those directly supporting grunts (combat engineers, medics, certain aviation & transport units [but not others], and I'm probably missing some but I'm just trying to get an idea across) v. REMFS (everyone else)... there are two kinds of medals:

• Valor (including I Forgot To Duck)

v.

• Everything Else

1. Atta Boy,
2. I Wuz There,
3. We Wuz There,
4. You Can Do X e.g: Shoot a rifle without blowing our balls off, jump out of an airplane, eat snakes, wear girl scout hats (and girl scouts too). We're cooool.
5. Your Unit Did This Eons Ago So Be Proud you fool you fool
6. And the ever popular Identification Badge We Hope Will Impress the Rest of The Army With Where We Work aka "We're So Stupid We Have To Remind Ourselves Where We Work"

No one but REMFs gives a shit about anything but awards for valor.

Wow, that's a lot of medals and tabs and other fancy shit he's got there. Let's count them (for each Oak Leaf Cluster, add +1)

• U.S. military decorations - Valor (1) v. Everything Else (20)
• U.S. unit awards - Valor (0) v. Everything Else (6)
• U.S. non-military decorations - Valor (0) v. Everything Else (1)
• U.S. service (campaign) medals and service and training ribbons - Valor (0) v. Everything Else (12)
• U.S. badges, patches and tabs - Valor (1) v. Everything Else (8)
• Foreign military decorations - Valor (0) v. Everything Else (1)
• Foreign badges, patches and tabs - Valor (0) v. Everything Else (3)
• Non-U.S. service medals and ribbons - Valor (0) v. Everything Else (2)

TOTALS -- Valor (2) v. Everything Else (53)

In a career spanning decades, General David Petraeus who has truly had his choice of career, choose to stay in nice safe promising positions, and away from those nasty grunt dangerous positions with the sharp sticks and pointy things.

Awards for Valor: 2
Awards for Everything Else: 53
I bet he's has some nasty paper cuts too.

Of all the awards for valor, the Bronze Star is typically awarded quickest after the incident, in the heat of battle so to speak, on recommendation from Battalion or Brigade Commanders, by the Division CO. In a real war, they're passed out fast and quickly. Like candy.

It isn't that people don't earn their Bronze Stars with V device. They sure as shit do and we treat them with respect. But when an officer such as a 2-star freaking general earns one as his first combat action, how do we say this politely, um... It's viewed with some skepticism. And here's the stich. I don't know the facts, actually. It may well be this award was reviewed. Over and over and over again. I don't know and I won't suggest otherwise. Damn my fucking integrity. *cracks up* (Or it may be a total fucking fraud. [That's for swift-boating John Kerry, you right-wing fuckers.])

Normally I wouldn't expect a general officer to only have a Bronze Star. I'd expect a Silver Star and maybe a Distinguished Flying Cross or even a Distinguished Service Cross. I sure as hell wouldn't expect any senior officer to earn their first award for valor as a flag officer. Or for this to be their only medal for valor (his other award is the Combat Infantryman's Badge.)

Everything else here is just junk, the kind of shit people pick up in their career. None of it means anything other than they've served and got their ticket punched. It raises many, many, hundreds more questions about why they've been in the rear, than in the front. To someone who knows how to read it.

Enough.

Wikipedia is your friend. it's all right there if you want to see. Most people don't change who they are in the middle of the game. Can happen. I did. It's goddamn hard. Petraeus didn't.

He's the same ass kissing suck up REMF he's always been. And jinxed.

Don't believe a goddamn word he says.

Those who have eyes to see, let them see.

There's more...

Medals Don't Lie. Men Do.

I don't like to think of myself as “old”. In the grand scheme of things, I'm not. The wizened sage, with a knowledge-whitened beard, and gnarled wooden staff to thump at the earth, punctuating worldly pronouncements? Not me.

What I am however, is what all of us are—namely, a witness to history. I remember classes being stopped to watch Apollo launches, I remember the “evil” of cyclamates, and vividly recall seeing The Fifth Dimension sing “Wedding Bell Blues” on Ed Sullivan. I have always been, in addition to to a witness, something of a news junkie. Combine that with a weird propensity for memory, and you get someone who sees today's news unfold as part of a longer continium—where events are all small links in the long chain that is history.

That “chain” was rattled again this week with the “testimony” of General David Petraeus before both houses of Congress. I'm sure it rattled your chains as well, because it links so seamlessly with things we've all seen before—stomach-turning episodes of Dejå Vu that don't end benignly with you and I going “Hmmm. That's wild. I could've sworn I saw that before”.

No...these episodes end with some mother's son coming home in various states of obvious disrepair in a black body bag.

You don't have to think very hard to recall the other instances of men in olive drab twill, left chests bedecked with all manner of ribbon and brass, sitting solemnly before Congress and the public, and saying things that were—to be very kind—supremely suspect.

The most obvious instance of this, that Petraeus' testimony recalled, was that of Gen. William Westmoreland, who went before Congress in 1967 at the behest of LBJ and repeatedly...and willfully understated the strength and efficacy of the opposition forces in Vietnam, low-balling the numbers against us in an attempt to make the war seem that much smaller and insignificant in the eyes of Congress, and via Congress, we...the people. He sat there, and knowingly lied—deluding himself and the rest of the military who depended on him for information, while creating a false sense of over-confidence in the 19, 20 and 21-year olds who were being trucked into Southeast Asia daily to fight an allegedly backward and low-numbered enemy. American lives were lost—wasted—because of his self-serving mendacity. And for all of those so quickly rushing to Petraeus' side to defend him in the face of some verrrry hard fact-checking, it is his not-so-distant military forefather, General Westmoreland, whose later debunked “mis-statements” are the heirloom seeds from which the flowering cynicism about Petraeus' words can be traced to.

Would that he was the only lying military officer forefather Petraeus could claim.

The right's beloved Oliver North—then an overly well-connected Lt. Colonel also sat before Congress and testified in 1987, seeming almost to “vogue and pose” for stills in his fitted dress uni and glint-catching medals. And that rule-raping clown not only lied about illegal shipments of U.S. weapons to a nation that had a mere few years before had kidnapped American citizens and held them hostage, but proudly did so—cloaking himself in the flag to boot, all tremble-lipped, and faux earnest-voiced as he admitted lying to Congress under oath about secretly re-directing the weapons and cash. He was indicted for it, and convicted of aiding and abetting in the obstruction of a congressional inquiry.

Let's...hear that one more time.

He was indicted and convicted of aiding and abetting in the obstruction of a congressional inquiry.

There's one more—and this one is a man who David Petraeus knows very well. Former Four-Star General Colin Powell was Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff while Petraeus was Assistant Professor of International Relations at the U.S. Military Academy. The much decorated Powell served in the Vietnam war that Petraeus would gain fame for writing his doctorate dissertation on. But Powell is remembered by many in these post-Vietnam days—and very unfondly I might add, for his now-debunked “testimony” before the U.N. in February of 2003.

Testimony where he sat there in front of the world touting bogus drawings of Iraqi fantasy weapons out of Nick Fury's S.H.I.E.L.D. , and agenda-puffed-lies. He has admitted to being skeptical of the disinformation he relayed that day—but...relayed it nonetheless, fully aware that countless lives—American and Iraqi would be damaged by it. And too many lives would actually end because of it. Powell wore a deep charcoal suit that day, when he pimped for war as Secretary of State—but make no mistake, that suit—that body—was cloaked in the “invisible-to-the-un-discerning-eye” deep olive of his halcyon military days. That “rep”—that image that Americans remember him for, the straight-shootin', brass-sportin' general who oversaw 28 separate military actions, was being used as cheap camouflage on that pivotal Winter's day, to flack for a war he himself didn't even believe in. The pass Powell has been given on the lies he flacked for that day, is that he was being what he'd always been—“a good soldier”, as it were. That he was “conflicted“ as he let himself be used as a pawn in a power play that has senselessly wounded 25,000 and sent nearly 3800 U.S. troops off to the land from which none shall ever wake. Cold comfort, that.

Powell's testimony/address is key here, because it gets at the greater point of what Petraeus did this past week, and the swirling controversy over it.

There are those who would use the imprimatur of Gen. Petraeus' lavishly decorated uniform/military authority as a shield to cravenly hide their self-serving deeds behind. Those who would try to blunt criticism of the continuance of this war by spluttering about people not acknowledging a general's “honor”, and “dedication”, and that to even note the possibility that such a person would massage the truth for untoward reasons is somehow...unpatriotic to even comprehend.

I cited the earlier instances of high-ranking men in uniform willfully twisting reality for the benefit of their commanders-in-chief for a reason—they are part of a pattern—a play as old as time, where those not in uniform are expected by powers-that-be to hold the word of those in uniform as totally above reproach. We are expected to unquestioningly ascribe the weight of Gods to the words of Generals. We are to believe that they will never deceive us, and that considering that possibility is to cause the earth to open up and swallow us all whole.

And quite simply, it's time to call “bullshit” on that fable.

Generals...officers...grunts...are men in uniform. Men. Who bleed, and sneeze, and sweat and shit just like everyone else. Human beings as prone to the foibles of opportunity and advancement as anyone else. And to question these people is the same as questioning anyone else who comes at you with sketchy, tenuous information. Their uniforms and medals don't make them any more or less prone to lie to you.

Medals don't lie. Men do.

It's why PSYOPS divisions exist in the military. There are hot wars, cold wars, and information wars. And many times, as is described in the definition of PSYOPS—

“techniques used by military and police forces to influence a target audience's emotions, motives, objective reasoning, and behavior. Target audiences can be governments, organizations, groups, and individuals, and are used in order to induce confessions, or reinforce attitudes and behaviors favorable to the originator's objectives.”

—its direct practitioners do so at the behest of the policy's originator—in almost all cases, the commander-in-chief. The military pledges fealty to the CIC. That's just the way it is. The President asks—they do. Their responsibility is not to the non-military populace—the public. So quite honestly, the public has little or no leverage over what generals say or do. They serve the President—and sadly, just like in any hierarchal structure—be it corporate or governmental, people who serve are loathe to give the boss bad news, and will more often than not, go out of their way to not only give the boss ONLY good news, but parrot ONLY GOOD NEWS to the masses if that's what the boss wants put out there.

That's the nature of the beast. If the order from the CIC is “Say 'X' even if the reality is 'Y',” 'X' is what you will hear. And in those instances where a general exercises free will, and that free will means sharing facts that do not fit the CIC's desired narrative, that general will be punished. You need look no further than what happened to General Eric Shinseki, Lt. Gen. John Riggs, and Major General Antonio Taguba when their words—truthful as they may have been—ran afoul of desired administration spin.

What has people in an uproar is the idiotic, simple-minded idea that we, the people are for some reason wrong to dare doubt the word of these for the most part, “spin-hamstrung” administration mouthpieces. That if you hint at their being untruthful, you are—“gasp!”—dishonoring their service! Self-interested parties want us to elevate these men to “God” status, where words escaping their lips—true or not—cannot be questioned, thus giving said interested parties an impenetrable, green shield to hide behind when confronted on their bullshit.

This is not to say that all generals are liars. I've cited here instances when generals have told brutal, unvarnished truths and paid for it. What I am saying is that generals...are not deities. They are human beings...people. And people will lie. That is why, considering the tsunami of lies we've heard from this administration about the war thus far—and seeing so much of the numbers floated out by Petraeus so quickly debunked—he simply doesn't deserve blanket “benefit of the doubt”.

Cede too much to men in power, where you elevate them to near-mythical status, and you leave yourself open to be taken advantage of. It's what we saw in the Catholic Church's sex abuse scandals, where clear misdeeds are overlooked because more important than anything else—“we must believe”. Bush and the GOP for the last three months have tried to deify General Petraeus, via the wet-eyed, steady repetition of his—“The Savior's” name, hoping to turn it into some sort of holy, healing novena that if said enough times would fix all bad in Iraq.

“PetraeusPetraeusPetraeusPetraeusPetraeusPetraeus...”

And let woe betide anyone who dares doubt “The Savior”, right? At least, according to those who need him to cover for their bullshit. Because that's who's really at fault here. The wingnut cowards who would use a man's uniform, and a man's service, and a man's fealty to the CIC to hide behind and shoot their war-mongering spitballs from.

Let's be clear—there is no savior. No water-walking “god” who cannot be questioned about the conduct and implementation of this war.

There are only men—who bleed, and sneeze, and sweat and yeah, shit just like everyone else. They sometimes lie, too—for reasons that are sadly, part of the job. But screw the people who can't deal with them being called out when it happens. And double-screw the people who fake outrage at the much-deserved cynicism, because it exposes their cowardly hidey-hole where they all hold hands, shut their eyes, and chant “War forever. War forever! WAR-FOR-FUCKING-EVAH!

“Man up.”

Defend your shit on the merits. Oh...wait! You stopped doing that a long time ago, didn't you?


I believe we get it, now.

There's more...

Taken To School

“W-why do ah hafta see the' Principal? Ah have all th' homework in m' Toby Keith Trapper Keeper! Really!”

Found myself hanging out helping a friend, one of my oldest friends, “D”, who's a teacher, with some Photoshop work on a project.

As we talked while I mouse-clicked away, the subject of Bush's speech, and his “late-in-the-day” promises of troop drawdowns came up. “D's” a military historian as well as an educator—and a damned brilliant military historian at that—but he kept his teacher's hat on for the discussion, and son-of-a-bitch if he didn't nail Bush's “Post-Surge” idiocy perfectly.

D: “Day late and a dollar short with all the 'I'm gonna reduce troop levels' shit. Trying to give his Republican buddies room to breathe for the election. Too late.

He's like one of those lazy-ass kids I end up with every year. Won't do shit the whole year, a total flunk-out in-progress from jump. May comes and they know they're gonna fail unless there's a miracle—so, they try to make a miracle. Stay up till 3 a.m. one night doin' a whole buncha homeworks, But half-assed. Buncha loose leaf sheets fulla sketchy shit and chicken scratch. Not even the whole assignments. And-(laughing)-and, they'll do 'em all with the same Goddamn blue pen that skips—so I know they just roughed some shit off at the last minute!. Straight-up, last-minute bullshit, trying to save their asess—and they hand it in to me, expecting me to go for the okey-doke. (Laughs again)

And then, I give 'em a big, fat red 'F'. Tryin' to run the game on somebody.

President gets an 'F'. Wait till the last minute, and hand in some insulting bullshit like that? 'F's the grade, baby!”

Only thing he left out was the flop-sweat droplets on all the pages, and telltale blinking while the desperate, lazy punk is explaining his last minute “miracle”.

Too late to ram through a “No President Left Behind” program, eh?

There's more...

Democracy While Black

Reverend Yearwood of the Hip Hop Caucus and Institute for Policy Studies discusses his arrest, made by Capital Police outside of a House of Representatives hearing room before the testimony of Gen. Petraeus.


Rev. Yearwood being arrested


Leader of the Hip Hop Caucus attacked, arrested, and hospitalized trying to attend Petraeus hearing. "I will not be arrested today."


Q: “Do you understand where you are?”
A: Peacefully standing in line to attend a Congressional Hearing.

Exception to every rule: DWB.

There's more...

LOLPETRAEUS

hat tip to ceabaird.

There's more...

Troops say: Moveon was right

First off let's be clear about who David Petraeus is. He is someone who takes credit where credit is not due. Someone who is very competitive and has shown that he cares little for the line troops that make his commands. Some of the only interactions that his men have had with him have involved him choppering in and pinning a purple heart on the lucky man that is pointed out to him by his aides and hopping back on the chopper. It's the best way to maintain those starched cammies. This guy was responsible for securing the weapons and explosive caches in Iraq. He was not supposed to rush to glory by bypassing towns to try to enter Baghdad first. He was supposed to destroy or guard all those AK-47's currently being used to shoot our troops to death, and he was supposed to stop the distribution all tons of explosives to bomb makers in Iraq. You have to understand the nickname Betrayus came from Iraq. There is not a 11B who doesn’t know this nickname. It’s his fuckups with weapons and explosives that garnered him the name. He was also supposed to train the Iraqi security forces. You remember those. The ones were we had 100 battalions, and then we have 23 battalions and then 3. The more security forces Petraeus trained the fewer we had. They sent his ass back to Kansas after that debacle.

This was where he decided to rewrite the COIN manual. Why a conventional forces commander with real no counter insurgency experience (certainly no successes,) would feel the urge to rewrite the COIN manual is beyond me and most of the Special Ops' crowd. What he did basically was remove the parts that disagreed with the tactics he used in Iraq and republished. They only reason for this rewrite was his access. The Staff College at Ft. Leavenworth is responsible for this sort of thing. I guess there were no actual academics hanging around the Staff War College to give him a hand. No, no Ace Wonderboy Dave Petraeus would take care of that himself. A brilliant mind. The kind of mind that looks at the counter insurgency problem in Iraq and comes up with the shocking approach of ... more troops! Finally, we all know that the reason that Bush picked him to replace General Casey was he would jump at the chance to serve his masters and not his men. Tell me David Petraeus did not walk up to capital hill and do exactly that. Mission? What mission? Have fun in the big sandy boys' see ya!

There's more...