Advice Of The Generals

Turns out there's a lot of advice to choose from:

NEWSWEEK has learned that a separate internal report being prepared by a Pentagon working group will “differ substantially” from Petraeus’s recommendations, according to an official who is privy to the ongoing discussions but would speak about them only on condition of anonymity. An early version of the report, which is currently being drafted and is expected to be completed by the beginning of next year, will “recommend a very rapid reduction in American forces: as much as two-thirds of the existing force very quickly, while keeping the remainder there.” The strategy will involve unwinding the still large U.S. presence in big forward operation bases and putting smaller teams in outposts. “There is interest at senior levels [of the Pentagon] in getting alternative views” to Petraeus, the official said. Among others, Centcom commander Admiral William Fallon is known to want to draw down faster than Petraeus.

Maybe that's because General Petraeus is admittedly myopic about completing his mission, and at best dismissive of the overall war on terror. Just today we've seen Al Qaeda take credit for two suicide bombs in Algeria that killed 57 people. Our problems around the world are simply too important to global security to keep us bottled up in Iraq.

UPDATE: By the way, you'll be shocked to know that the President will take Petraeus' advice and "withdraw" 30,000 troops by next summer, when the military had to draw down anyway because they were out of forces. It's like being at the end of a tapped keg and calling for an end to beer drinking. A complete shadow play. And so next July we'll be right where we started in January 2006, with 130,000 troops in Iraq and no end in sight.