Does anyone like the surge?

June 9, 2007

With Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Michael Mullen replacing Gen. Peter Pace as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the Wall Street Journal noticed an interesting trend among top military officials.

Adm. Mullen, like many of his four-star colleagues on the Joint Chiefs of Staff, was skeptical of the decision to send additional U.S. troops into Iraq.

This comes on the heels of Lt. Gen. Douglas Lute’s admission that he, too, registered his opposition to the president’s surge policy.

And that came on the heels of Defense Secretary Robert Gates expressing his own opposition to the surge.

In other words, Bush will have a chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, a “war czar,” and a Pentagon chief — arguably the three most important war-related posts in Washington — who are at least skeptical of the central strategy underlying the president’s Iraq policy.

Odd.

I liked Surge. Does that count?

  • In Bush’s mind Iraq has become like Afghanistan and it is time to move on to Iran. Afghanistan was a necessary stepping stone to get into Iraq. Establishing permanent military bases in Iraq was a necessary stepping stone to get into Iran and control the Middle East. It would be more interesting if these military honchos really wanted to pull out of Iraq. Instead, they support long term involvement and consider Iran evil.

  • Yes, but *god* loves the surge–he told GWB so–therefore no one else’s opinion or expertise matters.

  • Quite odd. But I suppose it isn’t like Bush actually plans to listen to any of these folks. They will just be the next administration fall guys so that Bush and Cheney are never held accountable.

  • First of all, the “surge” is not a surge. It’s a deployment of reserves in a losing battle, and it’s not enough. Both parties, to some degree, are talking about pulling out of Iraq. Those who still support the war are mindlessly repeating the “until we get the job done” mantra, but nobody has a good definition of the “job” or how it gets “done.”

    This has got to be a growing morale-buster for the troops. They’re in a no-win situation, and they know it. Our army is stuck there for the foreseeable future because nobody — Democrats or Republicans — knows how to pull out with political safety.

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