Petraeus’s Icarus flight began when he set himself above President Obama

[jsr]

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/14/opinion/dowd-reputation-reputation-reputation.html

Reputation, Reputation, Reputation
By MAUREEN DOWD

...Petraeus’s Icarus flight began when he set himself above President Obama.

Accustomed to being a demigod, expert at polishing his own celebrity and swaying public opinion, Petraeus did not accept the new president’s desire to head for the nearest exit ramp on Afghanistan in 2009. The general began lobbying for a surge in private sessions with reporters and undercutting the president, who was trying to make a searingly hard call...

Once in Afghanistan, Petraeus welcomed prominent conservative hawks from Washington think tanks. As Greg Jaffe wrote in The Washington Post, they were “given permanent office space at his headquarters and access to military aircraft to tour the battlefield. They provided advice to field commanders that sometimes conflicted with orders the commanders were getting from their immediate bosses.”

So many more American kids and Afghanistan civilians were killed and maimed in a war that went on too long. That’s the real scandal.

[Lugnut]

1. K&R n/t

[TreasonousBastard]

2. Remember this general named MacArthur? Big fargin' war hero who...

thought the President was a useless little shit...

[coalition_unwilling]

9. Big fargin' war hero who totally and completely fucked up with

regard to China's intentions, should we cross the 38th parallel.

And who disobeyed a direct order not to speak to the media.

I'll overlook a lot of HST's flaws b/c he had the balls to fire MacArthur. At the time, this was a very risky political move although subsequent events and public opinion largely vindicated HST.

[BouzoukiKing]

3. I dunno why the hell Dowd...

...gets all that dough, when she isn't a tenth the wordsmith this person is:

http://www.groupnewsblog.net/2007/09/general-petraeus-remf-ass-kisser-jinxed.html

Or one twentieth as well informed.

[Le Taz Hot]

6. I stopped reading after the fourth word.

[BouzoukiKing]

8. Never read Jesse Wendel, huh?

You've missed one of the greatest left-wing bloggers that's ever been...

[coalition_unwilling]

10. This blog post nails Betray-us and has the harsh feel of truth. Thanks

for posting.

The general has a problem with his privates!

[DallasNE]

4. If Reports That The CIA Had A Secret Prison In Benghazi Are True

Then that is clear insubordination. Since that data is classified we will likely never know but it would be another case of Petraeus putting himself above the President.

[marions ghost]

5. Icarus flight

yeah. What a nosedive.

Wars for profit.

[ancianita]

7. Military disdain for civilian leadership is an ongoing problem.

[Scurrilous]

11. K & R

[Hydra]

12. Last line nails it

Obama got pushed into/rolled into doing Republican dirty work. I remember it from the 2008 debates when McCain continued to hammer the lie that "The Surge Worked!!!!"

This is what happens when we try to make nice-nice with Republicans and allow them near the levers of power. Good people die while others get rich and have sex parties.

[Baitball Blogger]

13. She went right for his balls.

Love it!