Good gravy, "the military has decided to keep a low profile until the end of the Bush presidency."

[Bluebear]

The situation is about to devolve further, if you can imagine that.

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William M. Arkin on National and Homeland Security/Washington Post

Surge or not, $50 billion infusion or not, all-important September progress report or not, the Pentagon is already looking beyond the 2008 election. And though Iraq certainly figures into its plans, the military has decided to keep a low profile until the end of the Bush presidency.

In a memorandum to Defense Department managers -- first reported by Reuters and the trade newsletter Inside the Pentagon -- Deputy Defense Secretary Gordon England has laid out 25 goals for the military to meet by December 2008. The memo divides the initiatives into four categories: "prevailing" in the global war on terrorism; improving cooperation among the four services; focusing more on people; and transforming "enterprise management."

The latter is the bread and butter of bureaucracy and includes a number of internal management changes to tame the massive Pentagon establishment, including establishing a "new strategic planning process" and implementing reforms to better align demands from the field with orders from the procurement office. Buried in the bureaucratese is a new initiative to stack up one service's weapon or system against another's, with the goal of actually moving resources between service budgets if necessary -- for some, a fate worse than peace.

The memo, dated Aug. 9, asks the military to assess progress in the Iraq war once the September report is issued and to revise its strategy as needed. But there is no goal that imposes either winning or withdrawing. Clearly, by December 2008, the Pentagon foresees that the status quo will continue. Oh, there may be fewer boots on the ground, but the Defense Department leadership clearly believes that the Iraq war will have to be resolved by the next president...

http://blog.washingtonpost.com/earlywarning/2007/08/keeping_a_low_political_profil.html?nav=rss_blog

[monmouth]

1. Great post. I don't see that the military has any other options...

[lonestarnot]

2. While the money is secreted away in dump trucks.

[IndianaJones]

3. haven't heard good gravy in years. I had one friend that used to say it all the time. nt.

[LeftHander]

4. So the military will no longer take Bush orders?

If that is the case then the President and VP need to resign or be removed.