Conservative Analyst: Petraeus "Political General of the Worst Kind"

[Bolo Boffin]

This just got posted over at AmericaBlog, and wow, is it scorching. Andrew J. Bacevich is the author, and A.J. describes him as a "Catholic conservative." He also reveals that Bacevich lost a 27-year old son in Iraq to a suicide bomber.

Bacevich calls Petraeus a "sycophant savior." That's the actual title of the piece. Here's the first few paragraphs:

George Washington, U.S. Grant, and Dwight D. Eisenhower were all “political generals” in the very best sense of the term. Their claims to immortality rest not on their battlefield exploits—Washington actually won few battles, and Grant achieved his victories through brute force rather than finesse, while Ike hardly qualifies as a field commander at all—but on the skill they demonstrated in translating military power into political advantage. Each of these three genuinely great soldiers possessed a sophisticated appreciation for war’s political dimension.

David Petraeus is a political general. Yet in presenting his recent assessment of the Iraq War and in describing the “way forward,” Petraeus demonstrated that he is a political general of the worst kind—one who indulges in the politics of accommodation that is Washington’s bread and butter but has thereby deferred a far more urgent political imperative, namely, bringing our military policies into harmony with our political purposes.

...Petraeus has chosen a middle course, carefully crafted to cause the least amount of consternation among various Washington constituencies he is eager to accommodate. This is the politics of give and take, of horse trading, of putting lipstick on a pig. Ultimately, it is the politics of avoidance.

A political general in the mold of Washington or Grant would have taken a different course, using his moment in the spotlight not to minimize consternation but to stir it up to the maximum extent. He would have capitalized on his status as man of the hour to oblige civilian leaders, both in Congress and in the executive branch, to do what they have not done since the Iraq War began—namely, their jobs. He would have insisted upon the president and the Congress making decisions that wartime summons them—and not military commanders—to make. Instead, Petraeus issued everyone a pass.

A pass is what perpetuates the "next six months" mentality. It isn't about making a decision, but stalling one long enough for Bush to get out of office. Iraq is his mess and he should clean it up!

ETA: What Bacevich thinks should happen is that we should send more troops. But this article shows that not very many people (other than the pass receivers in Washington) are happy with what Petraeus has done.