Conservative Magazine Hits Petraeus As 'Sycophant'

Move over MoveOn. The latest issue of American Conservative magazine, which maintains a Ron Paul-esque opposition to the Iraq war, features a cover story by Andrew Bacevich blasting Gen. David Petraeus:

In common parlance, the phrase "political general" is an epithet, the inverse of the warrior or frontline soldier. In any serious war, with big issues at stake, to assign command to a political general is to court disaster--so at least most Americans believe. [...]

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.

Bacevich, a Boston University professor and retired Army colonel, is described by Steve Clemons as "one of the most articulate leading thinkers among military-policy dissident conservatives who have exposed the inanity of this war and the damage it has done." In May, his 27-year-old son Andrew J. Bacevich was killed on duty by an IED explosive in Iraq.

Comments

[apark559]

This story was on C-Span last week. I was wondering if anyone in the media would pick it up. The MSM will keep this below the radar.....­the hypocracy is AMAZING!!!!

[Cautious]

The dictionary definition of sychophat is
"a self-seeking, servile flatterer; fawning parasite."

And people complained about MoveOn ?

[unclebucky]

Uh?

Your point? Please elucidate.­..

Ugh.

--UB.

[vfippinger]

Petrayus put himself out ther as the "shield" for Bush.
Moveon, The AC and any other media outlet should be able to speak their minds.
If he were purely doing his job as General, it would be another story.
Shields always get hit before the target.

[HurryUp1212009]

I find it very interesting that "the Right" blasted MoveOn.Org for posting its General Betray-Us ad IN ADVANCE of Gen. Petraeus' Congressional testimony, when in fact Gen. Petraeus took the UNPRECEDENTED step of publishing a glowing Op-Ed piece about progress in Iraq, prior to the 2004 election, thereby attempting to influence the pre-election debate about Iraq.

This guy is a lying P.O.S. who now shares, with his enablers the Bush/Cheney Crime Machine, the responsibility for the death and maiming of thousands of our kids and scores of thousands of innocent Iraqis who just want their country back from US oil thieves...­.

SHAMFULLY REMINISCIENT OF NAZI GERMANY

[unclebucky]

A point to remember with regard to this argument and the Phoney Soldier critique.

We forget the interviews (anonymous, of course) with vets at Walter Reed and other vet facilities who admitted they were warned not to criticize the system or face being declined services.

Remember that the thousands of people (kids, older people, too) will not risk their medical care until the screws are taken off their thumbs, or whatever appendages remain after their injuries.

And LISTEN, I am not burlesquing those injuries, but that is the truth. Often the thumbscrews are applied mentally, where they have as much or more effect.

Ugh.

--UB.

[Blutus]

We can only hope the Senator
from Texas is gearing up for
another display of Republican
moral outrage.
Complete with posters
and moral superiority.

Should we hold or breath?

Or should we find a disgruntled
baggage handler?

[dadw5boys]

So the Conservatives call him BETRAY US using different words and thats OK.

[hugs4u]

Even the conservatives got it right for once. But even a blind pig can get lucky and find a acorn once in awhile.

[DJBrunner]

This article should be a top news story on HuffPost, not buried in the Politics section. My indeed where is the outrage from the republicans on this, where's the resolution from the Texas Senator condemning this 'unpatriotic' article. Oh I guess I forgot the small detail that this magazine is conservative and MoveON must be associated with liberals. Republicans can always be counted on to show their hypocrisy.

[Cautious]

Amen to that.

[cindyw]

Will we have a resolution in Congress condeming this article? I saw this story several days ago, and so far the right wing has been strangely silent. The article is a more extensive indictment of the general than was the MoveOn ad.

[syllepsis]

The American Conservative is a remarkably fair-minded publication (awhile ago they published a long, positive piece on George McGovern, in which they were fairer to him than the conventional organs of Democratic opinion).
Yes, calling him "Sycophant Savior' is just as damning or worse than the MoveOn ad. But the Republican Senators, and their Democratic allies, don't want to make life harder for themselves at reelection time by attacking anything that could offend segments of the Republican base. Remember, anything with "Conservative" in its title must be patriotic by definition, even if its contents include paeans to the man most associated with opposition to the Vietnam War, or its cover is festooned with outright attacks on Petraeus' character.

[wry]

I agree. the American Conservative is written and edited by intelligent, literate people. I usually disagree with them, but they don't take knee jerk positions.

[glitz]

"anything with Conservati­ve"..but like the mix-up in all of the "terms"; such as insurgent, terrorist, Al Qaeda; that this Administration uses, what we have in office now is a far cry from Conservati­sm..more like religious fundamentalist. Perhaps that will be the new third party title. Both of the parties have lost their way.

[Captain EdwardGraham]

Meanwhile three more US troops die for the Kick Ass Guy:

10/02/07 DoD Identifies Army Casualty
Spc. Chirasak Vidhyarkorn, 32, of Queens, N.Y., died Sept. 29 in Diwanihay, Iraq, of injuries suffered from a non-combat related incident. He was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 142nd Field Artillery Regiment, Camp Shelby, Miss.


10/02/07 DoD Identifies Army Casualty
Sgt. Randell Olguin, 24, of Ralls, Texas, died Sept. 30 in Baghdad, Iraq, of wounds suffered when insurgents attacked his unit using small arms fire. He was assigned to the 1st Squadron, 2nd Stryker Cavalry Regiment, Vilseck, Germany.

10/02/07 DoD Identifies Marine Casualty
Gunnery Sgt. Herman J. Murkerson Jr., 35, of Adger, Ala., died Oct. 1 while conducting combat operations in Al Anbar province, Iraq. He was assigned to Marine Wing Headquarters Squadron 2, 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing, II Marine Expeditionary Force...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=luLGWaEVJhs&mode=related&search= Heil Bu$h

[unclebucky]

Great link, Cap'n.

Ugh.

--UB.

[1differentdrummer]

Although I appreciate and respect the contribution our military makes, war of any kind is job security and the path to higher rank for the upper grade officers. How many places can a four star general work on active duty? The higher the rank the more political it is.

[jukesgrrl]

Professor, I join dotmafia in appreciation of your personal sacrifice and the position you've taken against the war. Generations of political thinkers have warned us about the dangers of politicizing the military, but it appears to be an opinion unheard by the administration and the freedom fries in Congress.

[dotmafia]

Mr. Bacevich, I am very sorry you lost your son in this unnecessary insane war. Please continue to speak out against this criminal "administration" and hold them accountable.
_