Petraeus, McChrystal & Mullen are pleased: They have now reached a level of power, dominated decision making & got everything they wanted

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Col. Pat Lang, at SST, here

"... Petraeus, McChrystal and Mullen must be very pleased with themselves today. This generation of flag officers has now reached a level of power in which they completely dominated this policy decision making process and got everything that they wanted.

The numbers? The Army general staff is already "fudging" the numbers. It is easy to hold people in various "paper" categories in which they seem to not be "in country" but really are there. There will be a lot more of that. In the end the actual number of Army soldiers in Afghanistan will come close to McChrystal's original request.

The withdrawal? The generals reckon that they can "manage" that decision as they did this one.

Basically, the generals and their allies "rolled" Obama on this one. They reckon that they can do it again, because he is weak willed and they are not. The generals also reckon that they can manage public opinion over time. I doubt it.

The generals do not seem to understand just how bad the economic situation of the United States really is. That is strange since so many of them end up in corporate board rooms after retirement.

The situation continues to be dominated by the phony "world war" atmosphere that has been generated on the basis of the "existential threat" posed by the onrushing juggernaut of the wold wide threat of the re-establishment of a CALIPHATE!!! (That was irony.) In fact, the actual annoying threat of the takfiri jihadis should be dealt with on the basis of police, intelligence and and SOF efforts.

The situation begins to seem a lot like Milo Minderbinder's "airline" in the novel, "Catch 22." In the book, Minderbinder shipped produce and other goods that were in short supply around the Mediterranean theater of war using military aircraft. Even the enemy participated in the scheme and everyone "got well." There is now so much money flowing into Afghanistan that everyone who touches it risks corruption, not just the Afghans. The generals are enjoying more significance, power and perquisites than most of them will ever know again. We are paying off the Taliban to keep our lines of supply open.

This has become a self-licking ice cream cone. War without end, amen.

Obama? He will have to be the camel that walks through the eye of the needle. Hillary Clinton? Her devotion to team membership is excessive." PL

Posted by G, Z, or B at 3:09 PM