Bush Bypassing Several Levels Of Chain Of Command To Give Petraeus Priveledged Voice On Iraq

Washington Post:

For months, a debate raged at the top levels of the Bush administration over how quickly to reduce the number of U.S. troops in Iraq. But the discussion shut down soon after President Bush flew to Camp Arifjan, a dusty Army base near the Iraqi border in Kuwait, in January for a face-to-face meeting with the man whose counsel on the war he values most: Gen. David H. Petraeus.

During an 80-minute session, the president questioned his top commander in Iraq on whether further troop reductions, beyond those planned through July, would compromise security gains. According to officials familiar with the exchange, Petraeus said he wanted to wait until the summer to evaluate conditions -- and Bush made it clear he would support him and take any political heat.

"My attitude is, if he didn't want to continue the drawdown, that's fine with me," Bush said before television cameras later, with Petraeus standing by his side. "I said to the general: 'If you want to slow her down, fine; it's up to you.' "

In the waning months of his administration, Bush has hitched his fortunes to those of his bookish four-star general, bypassing several levels of the military chain of command to give Petraeus a privileged voice in White House deliberations over Iraq, according to current and former administration officials and retired officers. In so doing, Bush's working relationship with his field commander has taken on an intensity that is rare in the history of the nation's wartime presidents.

Those ties will be on display this week, when Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan C. Crocker report to Congress on progress in Iraq, and when Bush is expected to announce a decision on future force levels. By all accounts, Petraeus's view that a "pause" is needed this summer before troop cuts can continue has prevailed in the White House, trumping concerns by the Joint Chiefs of Staff and others that the Army's long-term health could be threatened by the enduring presence of many combat forces in Iraq.

Read the whole story: Washington Post

Comments

[esquire07]

Bush and Petraeus = WAR CRIMINALS

[MikeDu]

I've said it before, the fact that George Bush Jr. is using Petraeus as a fig leaf that implies Petraeus must have a firm grip on Bush's scrotum.

[PierreLeClerke]

This criminal president has no credibility at all. His present propaganda ploy is to prop up a Soldier and use his credentials, and stain his honor. Shame on this Soldiers honor, a once proud Paratrooper! Restore your honor, tell Congress of the deceptions this decider in chief has ordered you to put forth as fact and then resign.

[shanester]

Someone in Congress should ask Patreus if your gonna stay in IrAQ for 100 years how exactly do you expect to do that without a draft??

Asking 3% of the population to fight this endless occupation over and over again is frankly insane and immoral

[MadeinAmericaProud]

This title is crap. Who are these people Bush bypassed? If not it would be the same as Bush bypassing
several levels to get to Mrs. Bush. If you all accept this crap as valid information, I still have an extra double decker out hourse, room at the bottom for sale.

[mamacat]

The current commander in Iraq was handpicked because he was willing to go along with what Bush wanted to do, as opposed to what seemed the logical thing to do. The last commander wasn't, so he was replaced with Petraeus, a more malleable officer.

Ultimately, the job of the commander on the ground is to attempt to carry out the orders of his boss. In this case, the boss has told him to take 30,000 more troops and put them on the ground.

If and when a new boss tells him, or his replacement, to cooperate with the Iraqis in drawing down the American presence in Iraq, then that will become the new mission. He, like the soldiers under him, are expected to fight when told to fight, and to withdraw when told to withdraw. The American armed forces have won every fight they have had to fight in Iraq, but the insurgency goes on. When the American public elects a leader who will do their will, instead of his own, it will be time to withdraw our troops from where they are obviously not welcome.

[vippy]

sorry, 2 terms, which is 8 years.

[deke33]

Bush listens to only God. It was God who told him to fire the smart Shisenski (sp). It was god who told him to listen to Cheney, Rums, Feith, Perle and Wolfnowitz. It was god who told him to fire naval head of the Joint Chiefs for having a different outlook than his. The only hope for those mortals that believe in a heaven and a hell will be which way bush travels after his demise.
I, for one, unlike the person who added two lines on an epitaph on a grave stone in a Conn. cemetary,
"Thou traveler who passes by,
As thou art now, so was I.
As I am now thou soon shall be,
So prepare for death and follow me"

The two line addition

"To follow thee I am not content
until I know which way thou went"

If there is such a thing as a hereafter, iI am convinced Bush Cheney and the above mentioned will join the monsters that preceded them. Hitler, Stalin, Genghis Kahn etc.

[julieeiluj]

Bush will say or do ANYTHING it takes to keep their agenda moving forwards, an agenda of death, destruction, no value for human life, and the filling of their coffers with America's borrowed riches.

[MadeinAmericaProud]

That's the Republican Party way. that's why they are so big on pro-life but no welfare, just pull yourself up by your booth straps so you can serve in the military.

[ROBOT8]

ten steps that "fascist, totalitarian, and other repressive leaders [employ to] seize and maintain power, especially in what were once democracies." The ten steps are:
1. Invoke a terrifying internal and external enemy
2. Create a gulag
3. Develop a thug caste
4. Set up an internal surveillance system
5. Harass citizens' groups
6. Engage in arbitrary detention and release
7. Target key individuals
8. Control the press
9. Dissent equals treason
10. Suspend the rule of law
naomi wolfe
HAD THE PATRIOT ACT which is neither NOT BEEN PUT INTO PLACE, THERE WOULD BE A REVOLUTION TODAY IN THE UNITED STATES.......WHO KNOWS? PERHAPS A REVOLUTION ALREADY OCURRING.........PERHAPS A GOOD SHOW OF FAITH WITH THE REST OF THE WORLD WE COULD TURN OVER BUSH, HIS CHILDREN, HIS BROTHERS, HIS PARENTS, HIS RELATIVES, HIS FRIENDS, TO THE IRAQI GOVERNMENT. GIVE CHENEY, RUMSFORD, ROVE TO THE INTERNATIONAL WAR TRIBUNAL AS WITH GONZALEZ AND RICE

[JackNasty]

No chain of command, law or Constitutional right is too great fore the Bush to abridge. Congress and the courts have abdicated their duty of oversight of the Executive branch. The only hope is that the lot of these arrogant, Bush thugs will eventually be tried as war criminals in international courts.

[vippy]

If only the public would remember when they come up for re-election in 2012. Let us fire them
all and only keep them in office for 2 years. Impose on them the same rules we government
employees have to abide, the ethics rule (one cannot accept even one pencil from a person,
one cannot work for an inside company for 2 years after you quit your job and you lose half of your
retirement pay if you accept the job with a company who used to do business with you).
Why do we have different set of rules, isn't obvious.

[mamacat]

sound like a very reasonable idea

[Pauper]

Gee, General David Petreaus is George W's bitch?!?!?! Tell me it ain't so!!!

Petreaus is no patriot, he is a propagandist for the worst president and the worse foreign policy in our history. MoveOn had it right, he's betrayed the American people and is a disgrace to the uniform.

[ResidentChimp]

Most Huffers probably don't realize President Bush is the CIC.

[1differentdrummer]

Yes he is CIC. He also has a great reputation as a scholar of military science and tactics, NOT. Just because w is CIC doesn't mean he has a clue about what he is doing and the fact our troops are there demonstrates that clearly. An eighth grader's grasp of world and Middle Eastern affairs doesn't make the man competent.

[maxfusion]

My word, you and your candidates, just making it up as you go. Comments concerning military protocol on Huff and Puff, Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa Ha Ha.

[batgirlevi]

bush has no credibility and anyone he anoints with credibility has no credibility.

[ResidentChimp]

I forgot. Where did you get your credibility? At the local 7/11?