Must-read article about Iraq and the 2008 election

Michael Gordon is the author of the excellent Cobra II and one of the best mainstream media journalists of this war. In the New York Times, he writes this worrisome article that accurately describes both the counter-insurgency we're doing, and need to continue to do, in Iraq and the very alarming disconnect in the rhetoric from all our 2008 presidential candidates: War, Meet the 2008 Campaign.

EXTRACT:

The generals and diplomats are taught to stay clear of American politics. Right now, they have their hands full trying to devise a way to thin out the American troop deployments and shift more of the burden to the Iraqis without forfeiting hard-won gains. Their hope, one American civilian official said, is to make enough political and military headway this year that the next president will have time to reassess developments in Iraq and perhaps opt for a course correction rather than wholesale change. *

In the meantime, some senior officers seem utterly puzzled by the debate at home. “The one thing that befuddles is I have not heard any candidate describe what their short and long term goals are for Iraq, how it fits into their regional goals for the Middle East and transnational terrorism,” said the American officer. “Is their goal just to withdraw troops as fast as possible?”

* My assessment is that we would need to draw down and re-orient our forces in Iraq by 2010 whoever is President, whether the Petraeus-led counterinsurgency is successful or not. That doesn't necessarily mean a radical withdrawal of our mission from Iraq but there is a practical logistical limit to the current mission. Therefore, "course correction rather than wholesale change" is the reasonable goal. I mean, what did our forces and military mission look like in Germany and Japan in 1948, or in Korea in 1957? Certainly not what they looked like in 1941 or 1950, which looked far different again in 1955 or 1964. The hope is that, in the time and space opened by the present COIN until 2010, the coming course correction evolves to build upon success, a charlie-mike (continue mission), rather than an end-ex (end exercise) that abandons our commitment to Iraq and the Iraqi people.

Eric

Marines new commercial

If there is one thing the Marines are great at, it's P.R.. Very nice commercial and in-line with how I believe the Army should market itself. The Marines get it. The imagery evokes my feeling about being a soldier when I served in Korea. There weren't many of us, only about 35,000 American servicemembers total spread throughout Korea, and I wondered that so few of us could be responsible for so much that was so important. Soldiers are responsible for the success of our nation's grand strategies and international pacts. With all that responsibility spanning countries and peoples, we weren't a machine or a complex - we were simply a few ordinary men and women wearing a common uniform and doing our jobs. This new commercial does a great job of showing the military in context as a small group of people responsible for a vast land.

The Marines kept a blog about making the commercial.

Eric

West Point's honored dead

See the United States Military Academy at West Point's Taps page.

Eric

I endorse Barack Obama and Rudy Giuliani

. . . Barack Obama on the Democrat side, Rudy Giuliani on the Republican side.

That's where I stand on January 7, 2008, without having paid serious attention yet to the Presidential race.

I like that Obama is black, and better, multicultural and cosmopolitan, relatively young, which is to say, he's post-Baby Boom, Civil Rights campaign and Vietnam War, and a pragmatic progressive idealist. Obama is inexperienced, but he has the right stuff to rise quickly and well to the challenge. It doesn't hurt at all that he's a fellow Columbian. I also believe, despite the boilerplate (and infuriating) anti-war rhetoric - required of all Democrats - he espouses, that Obama would not do anything rash and irresponsible about Iraq, such as precipitous withdrawal. Obama's mantra is the Kennedy-esque, "Let's go change the world". Does that sound like someone who would so seriously undermine America's power to effect change and abdicate our nation's leadership and moral responsibilities by surrendering in Iraq? Like me, Obama has a desire to use American primacy and power to make a progressive difference in the world, which cannot work by subordinating American will to other nations. In that way, he's not unlike the post-9/11 liberal-convert George Bush. We are in the midst of a generational challenge, a multi-faceted global revolution and competition, and I believe Obama has a clearer perspective without the deficiencies and historical baggage of the Baby Boomer generation. He's not trapped in the Cold War. Once Obama is actually in position to decide Operation Iraqi Freedom, he's not going to pull us out of Iraq, or the Long War, in a manner that would cause harm to his greater idealistic mandate. He wants to change the world for the better as President, and retreat and surrender in Iraq by his orders would collapse his goals from the outset. No matter the controversial start to Operation Iraqi Freedom, the stakes in Iraq now are world-changing. Once we are clear of the baggage of President Bush, who did what needed to be done, if not always done well, the next President will be able to clarify those stakes. A charismatic and articulate progressive liberal like Obama, as opposed to the frustratingly inarticulate liberal-convert Bush, will have the opportunity to highlight the progressive nature of our Iraq mission for the American and global audiences as well as warn of the long-term harm to the liberal world order that would result from our failure there.

My support for Giuliani is as a New Yorker who remembers New York City before Giuliani's mayorship and the New York City that blossomed under his leadership. Rudy Giuliani was exceptional, visionary, savvy, principled, and tough as mayor of New York. He led a revolution for the better in this city. What he did for New York is what we need for the country. Simply, I trust him to be a competent, effective President. I just doubt that someone as uncharismatic as Giuliani can win the Presidency.

Eric