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Democratic Underground Latest Breaking News: Generals Seek To Reverse Obama's Iraq Withdrawal Decision
The Daily Dish | By Andrew Sullivan: The Petraeus Pushback?
Pundits Blog: President Petraeus?
Power Line: Obama, Petraeus on Collision Course?
Sister Toldjah: Team Obama has been in “discreet talks” with Iran and Syria … for months
Generals Seek To Reverse Obama's Iraq Withdrawal Decision
Democratic Underground Latest Breaking News —
... the conflict between the president and senior military officers over troop withdrawal, however. There are indications that Petraeus and his allies in the military and the Pentagon, including Gen. Ray Odierno, now the top commander in Iraq, have already begun to try to pressure Obama to change his withdrawal policy. A network of senior military officers is also reported to be preparing to support Petraeus and Odierno by mobilising public opinion against Obama's decision. Read more: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/02/02/generals-seek-...
The Petraeus Pushback?
The Daily Dish | By Andrew Sullivan —
... It's hard to know what to make of this, but if senior generals start briefing against their own commander-in-chief's electoral mandate to withdraw from Iraq in 16 months, they should be reminded of the Constitution. But what's interesting here is the assumption: the generals seem to be assuming that Iraq will only be kept from disintegrating if US troops occupy the place indefinitely. Is that now the neocon position? I thought the real position was: we've won, so we have to stay for ever. My own position is: we have a window to leave; why on earth would we not leap at the ...
President Petraeus?
Pundits Blog —
... shows that 55 percent of them think the party should become more like Sarah Palin. Her star continues to shine brightly in Republican circles, while most of the country doesn't take her seriously. Someone who may see a 2012 opening is Gen. David Petraeus — who, I've read, sees President Petraeus when he looks in the mirror. Petraeus is reportedly pressuring Obama on his commitment to withdraw troops from Iraq. On Jan. 21, after a meeting with Obama, the general looked "visibly unhappy when he left the Oval Office." Petraeus would have a great shot at the Republican ...
Obama, Petraeus on Collision Course?
Power Line —
That's what Gareth Porter if the Inter Press Service says:
CENTCOM commander Gen. David Petraeus, supported by Defence Secretary Robert Gates, tried to convince President Barack Obama that he had to back down from his campaign pledge to withdraw all U.S. combat troops from Iraq within 16 months at an Oval Office meeting Jan. 21.
But Obama informed Gates, Petraeus and Joint Chiefs Chairman Adm. Mike Mullen that he wasn't convinced and that he wanted Gates and the military leaders to come back quickly with a detailed 16-month plan, according to two ...
Team Obama has been in “discreet talks” with Iran and Syria … for months
Sister Toldjah —
... In related news, the HuffPo reports that General Petraeus and Def. Sec. Gates have both been pushing back on Obama’s desire to withdraw all combat brigades out of Iraq within 16 months: ...
File Under Fiction: Revolt of the Generals
Weekly Standard Blog —
... Gareth Porter, the left's favorite reporter, filed a dispatch yesterday alleging that a cabal of generals, led by David Petraeus, was seeking "to try to pressure Obama to change his withdrawal policy." Lending further credence to his report, Porter quoted an unnamed source as saying that Petraeus was "visibly unhappy" as he left the White House, having learned the hard way that he's not "still dealing with George Bush instead of with Barack Obama." ...
WHAT HAS HAPPENED TO OBAMA’S ‘WELL OILED MACHINE?’
Right Wing Nut House —
... in that it was the left who chose to politicize natural disasters and Obama will almost certainly have his own “Katrina moment” eventually. And Obama’s initial steps into the foreign policy arena have not been without a slip or two. His interview with Al-Arabiya TV - the first interview he granted following his inauguration – was chock full of moral equivalence and a curious detatchment about Iran’s ambitions, undercutting his own sanctions policy at the UN in the process. But the reported rift between Obama and the military brass may prove most damaging in the long run. ...
Tomgram: Dahr Jamail, Iraq from the Inside of an Armored BMW
TomDispatch —
... "Odierno and Petraeus have said that we really need 23 months to do this without jeopardizing the security gains that we've secured," was the way one typical anonymous official put it. President Obama has yet to show any sign of agreeing to this, but the pressure is evidently only beginning. Gareth Porter of Inter Press Service ...
Iraq's 'Teflon Don'
Antiwar.com Original —
... 19 months long, the other 23 months long, and here's a shock the two top generals in charge, Centcom commander David Petraeus and U.S. commander in Iraq, General Ray Odierno, favor the 23-month approach. "Odierno and Petraeus have said that we really need 23 months to do this without jeopardizing the security gains that we've secured," was the way one typical anonymous official put it. President Obama has yet to show any sign of agreeing to this, but the pressure is evidently only beginning . Gareth Porter of Inter Press Service ...
The Beginning of the End? Obama, Gates Outline Iraq Drawdown
Firedoglake —
... There have been reports that Odierno and Petraeus, the commander of U.S. forces in the Middle East and South Asia, had been uncomfortable with withdrawal. Whether or not those reports were accurate, Gates publicly committed both generals to supporting the withdrawal plan. ...
How to Trap a President in a Losing War
Antiwar.com Original —
... but is periodically mentioned as the Eisenhower of 2012, how potentially peachy to launch your campaign against the president who lost you the war. A Petraeus Moment? In the present context, the media language being used to describe this military-civilian conflict of wills — frustration, impatience, split, rupture, ire — may fall short of capturing the import of a moment which has been brewing, institutionally speaking, for a long time. There have been increasing numbers of generals’ "revolts" of various sorts in our recent past. Of course, George W. Bush was insistent on ...
How to Trap a President in a Losing War
Commondreams.org Views —
... but is periodically mentioned as the Eisenhower of 2012, how potentially peachy to launch your campaign against the president who lost you the war. A Petraeus Moment? In the present context, the media language being used to describe this military-civilian conflict of wills -- frustration, impatience, split, rupture, ire -- may fall short of capturing the import of a moment which has been brewing, institutionally speaking, for a long time. There have been increasing numbers of generals' "revolts" of various sorts in our recent past. Of course, George W. Bush was insistent on ...
