Cross posted at the front pages of ePluribus, My Left Wing and Pen and Sword. Also at Kos.
Former White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card says we don’t want to leave a safe haven in Iraq for al-Qaeda terrorists. He repeated that meme several times on MSNBC Friday morning.
Riddle me this, Andy. If we’re so concerned about Iraq becoming a haven for al-Qaeda, why is Joint Chiefs chairman Peter Pace talking about pulling U.S. troops our of al-Anbar province, which is under control of al-Qaeda in Iraq and moving those troops to Baghdad?
MSNBC’s anchor lady didn’t bother to ask Card that question, nor did she push back when Card trotted out standard wheeze about it being “a different world since 9/11” two or three times.
Three and a half years into America’s finest fiasco, administration types are still feeding us the same lame set of talking points from Karl Rove’s bunk bunker and mainstream media types are still letting them get away with it.
Faith Based Warfare
Card’s comments about al-Qaeda echo the assertions of Pace and young Mister Bush himself that al-Qaeda is responsible for the sectarian violence in Iraq.
If that’s the case, al-Qaeda in Iraq is the “enemy” center of gravity, and you don’t need a graduate degree in war knowledge from a war college to know that defeating the bad guys’ center of gravity is the key to winning a war. So why does Pace want to pull troops away from fighting the enemy center of gravity and divert them to Baghdad where they’ll be trapped in the middle of, well, let’s call it “civil sectarian violence?”
As I mentioned a few days ago, a lesson I learned as a career military officer is that when the top brass say and do things that don’t make sense, it means that they’re 1) idiots, 2) losing their grip, 3) congenital jerks, 4) hiding their real agendas or 5) influenced by some combination of any or all of the other four.
If Pace and Bush really believe al Qaeda in Iraq is the center of gravity but choose not to confront it, they’re not in their right minds. I’ve heard that Pace is at heart a good guy, but ample evidence indicates that Bush is a congenital jerk. The overwhelming burden of proof also tells us that Bush is a master of hiding his real agenda.
But regardless of what’s really going on in the hearts and minds of our Commander in Chief and his top general, neither of them is making sense, and that’s something to be very, very concerned about.
Warfare by Committee
If a camel is a horse designed by a committee, Iraq is a war being run by a coalition of middle school student councils.
On the flight home from Mister Bush’s awkward talks in Jordan with Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, National Security Adviser Stephen J. Hadley told the gaggle on Air Force One that the recommendations of the “bipartisan” Baker-Hamilton report on Iraq would not be taken as “sacrosanct.”
According to Robin Wright of the Washington Post, Bush is likely to take a sanctimonious attitude toward any advice he receives.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said in Jordan yesterday that Bush plans to receive the report of the Iraq Study Group on Wednesday, then hear more from the Joint Chiefs of Staff and his own policy review team. “Then I think he’ll set out a direction that adjusts our policy to be appropriate to the circumstances that the Iraqis now face,” Rice told reporters traveling with her.
That’s standard Condi gargle noise that means nothing’s going to change.
Including the nonsense we’ll continue to hear from the Rovewellians on why it hasn’t.
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Commander Jeff Huber, U.S. Navy (Retired) writes from Virginia Beach, Virginia. Read his commentaries at ePluribus Media and Pen and Sword.
