So he's authorized to militarily strike Syria, but not to negotiate with them. I see.

(Actually, both of those seem like authorities that should be in the civilian sphere.)

The leaking also means he's out to curry favor with his new boss. He's a very political general.

I got the sense that Petraeus and Obama clicked when Obama visited the Middle East this past summer.
I think it's always good when a potential president and military leader are on the same page.

http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2008/10/31/abc_news/

Someone should tell ABC News what "exclusive" means

Admiral Fallon was saying the same thing early last Spring (and is 'quoted' as being even more direct in Woodward's "The War Within")and we know what happened to him.

http://joshualandis.com/blog/

Lots of material at (actual Syria expert) Professor Landis's "Syria Comment" blog on how the decider's (the Vice President's) decision is having disastrous consquences for the USA . . . and not so good for Israel either.

http://joshualandis.com/blog/

Lots of material at (actual Syria expert) Professor Landis's "Syria Comment" blog on how the decider's (the Vice President's) decision is having disastrous consquences for the USA . . . and not so good for Israel either.

http://joshualandis.com/blog/

I got the sense that Petraeus and Obama clicked - Allan Snyder

There was a Senate hearing a while back where Clinton, McCain and Obama each got to ask questions of Petraeus. McCain's questions all sounded like, "Tell me I'm right." Clinton's sounded like, "Why should anyone ever believe you?" And Obama's sounded like, "If this is the goal, how do we get there?" Imagine you're applying for a job. Which would you want to work for?

It's no wonder Bush wouldn't authorize Petraeus to talk with our enemies. That's a surefire way to end a perfectly decent war.

Theres nothing scarier to me than four more years of similar disorganized and irattic responses. Ive sent this link to everyone I know urging them to stand up and not vote for Mad McCain.

This is a concrete way to show all those people still on the fence that McCain is Mad and you would be nuts to vote for him.

http://tv1.com/playlists/show/11

Its more than worth sending and viewing!

cheers,

I have to wait until I get my policy decision from Joe the Plumber

BWahhahahahahaha!

And to think just a few months ago the neocons were drumming hard on the "unpatriotic" liberals for suggesting Patraeus was betray-ing-us for painting a rosy picture of conditions in Iraq.

Now that their new chat will be "General- you betrayed us", can we finally call rethugs unpatriotic assholes?

Doesn't this seem like a proposal for the Sec of State? Where is Rice anyway?

It seems like he new W would shoot down the idea but Petraeus wanted to promote his willingness to take a different route. He knows which way the wind is blowing.

In a Newsweek article Oct. 25, a former state department official said this: "To illustrate how far we have isolated ourselves, think about this: I served as the Bush administration's point person on Iran for three years but was never permitted to meet an Iranian."
http://www.newsweek.com/id/165650/page/1
How far did that get us?

It's also "interesting" because not even six months ago, many Dem bloggers and a few national Dems were claiming Petraeus was intensely, Bush-fawningly political.

Hmm, is that crow I smell cooking on the barbie? Time to eat up!

I'll bet if I searched through the archives here, its former host would need to be at the table. And, if I searched through another blog, the present host of this one would be joining him.

Yes, the beloved Global Citizen kept drumming how political anyone above the grade of Colonel or Captain has to be. And, yes, that smell does have a touch of crow attached.

Bush won't go for it because it would be a tacit endorsement of Obama's ideas/views/foreign policy and he can't do that the week before the election. He has to support McCain. Remember nothing is more important than Republican power.