Thursday, September 13, 2007
Criticizing PetraeusI was planning to post about the Republicans now-deeply ingrained treason-baiting tendencies. Which is what I plan to call it until I come across a better word. "Redbaiting" is what it was called back when Joe McCarthy and Pat McCarran did it. But since the Red Evil Empire of the Soviet Union no longer exists, and since red stands for Republicans now anyway in the US, "redbaiting" just doesn't describe it any more.But then I saw this report from Gareth Porter, so I'll come back to my original idea later: Fallon Derided Petraeus, Opposed the Surge by Gareth Porter Inter Press Service 09/12/07. At the Congressional hearing where our Saviour-General David Petraeus was testifying this week, Republicans made a big show of being shocked, shocked that MoveOn.org was running an ad criticizing Petraeus and questioning his credibility. According to Porter's report, MoveOn.org wasn't alone in criticizing the Saviour-General: In sharp contrast to the lionisation of Gen. David Petraeus by members of the U.S. Congress during his testimony this week, Petraeus's superior, Admiral William Fallon, chief of the Central Command (CENTCOM), derided Petraeus as a sycophant during their first meeting in Baghdad last March, according to Pentagon sources familiar with reports of the meeting.Now whether or not you think, as Joan Walsh put it, that the MoveOn.org ad "was marred ... by the right-baiting play on Petraeus as "Betray us", calling him "an ass-kissing little chickenshit" strikes me as even less reverential. Porter continues: The policy context of Fallon's extraordinarily abrasive treatment of his subordinate was Petraeus's agreement in February to serve as front man for the George W. Bush administration's effort to sell its policy of increasing U.S. troop strength in Iraq to Congress. ...I also found this encouraging: One of Fallon's first moves upon taking command of CENTCOM was to order his subordinates to avoid the term "long war" - a phrase Bush and Secretary of Defence Robert M. Gates had used to describe the fight against terrorism.I always thought that "the Long War" was a kind of Orwellian propaganda name. And Porter reports: Fallon acquired a reputation for a willingness to stand up to powerful figures during his tenure as commander in chief of the Pacific Command from February 2005 to March 2007. He pushed hard for a conciliatory line toward and China, which put him in conflict with senior military and civilian officials with a vested interest in pointing to China as a future rival and threat.Wow! His article also references other news reports: Among Top Officials, 'Surge' Has Sparked Dissent, Infighting By Peter Baker, et al Washington Post 09/09/07. U.S. Command Shortens Life of ‘Long War’ as a Reference by Michael Gordon New York Times 04/24/07. (Note: Gordon shared a byline with Judith Miller's on some of her most notorious WMD-in-Iraq articles, so his reporting always has to be taken with caution.) General Is Front Man For Bush's Iraq Plan by Peter Baker Washington Post 02/07/07. This article reports on an incident that Porter indicates was one action that Admiral Fallon particularly disliked: "I've been selling Petraeus to anybody who would listen," said Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.), who terms the Bush troop increase the "Petraeus Doctrine" and fetched senators off the floor to meet the general in McConnell's office. "He's the General Grant of the surge. He's our last best chance as a military commander to bring about a change on the ground." ...Porter describes this arrangement in particular as "a highly unusual political role for an officer who had not yet taken command of a war". Huckleberry Graham's February comment also reminds me of why his "questions" were so blatantly cheerleading. Tags: gareth porter, iraq war, petraeus | +Save/Share | | |
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