Wednesday, April 11, 2007

Finding the right general isn’t easy. Just ask Lincoln. I’d suggest retired Marine Gen. John J. “Jack” Sheehan, a former top NATO commander, is not the guy, seeing he can’t keep his mouth shut about a White House initiative that hasn’t been announced yet, and also doesn’t get it:

“The very fundamental issue is, they don’t know where the hell they’re going.”

Where they are going is “to win.” Who wants a general who not only blabs, but doesn’t want to do that?

“There’s the residue of the Cheney view — ‘We’re going to win, al-Qaeda’s there’ — that justifies anything we did,” he said. “And then there’s the pragmatist view — how the hell do we get out of Dodge and survive? Unfortunately, the people with the former view are still in the positions of most influence.”

I’d suggest it’s a little late in this administration to be appointing war czars. But the right one could undermine the enthusiasm for surrender and give the administration something it doesn’t have right now. Continuity of its war goals beyond January ‘09.

We slept in the Jumhuriyah intersection again. I had a spot on the roof of the first sergeant’s M113 this time. In the morning, sitting on top of Ortiz’s 113, I began to see non-embedded press filtering through. I called out to some of them.

“Where you from?”

“New York Times”

“Oh yeah? Boston Herald.”

“You’re a reporter? You look like one of the GIs.”

I felt like one of the GIs at this point, though I was already unbeknownst to myself beginning the process of detachment. Biggest difference between them and me. I was never in anyone’s army. I didn’t have to stay here.