Running out of generals

[Kramer]

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2010/jul/11/obama-at-odds-with-petraeus-doctrine-on-islam/

at some point down the road Obama will run short on generals. They won't serve under and it's easy to understand why.

[BT]

Looks like we have some think tank boys stirring the pot.

[Plane]

Perhaps we should tell the terrorists that they are not "real" Islam , as if they are not angry enough.

[Kramer]

what happened to the days when generals ran these aspects of war? Why educate them and train them to run wars if they can't use their skills? Let alone all this feel-good stuff. I like the idea of making the enemy uncomfortable and living in fear.

[Michael Tee]

<<what happened to the days when generals ran these aspects of war?>>

Never was and never will be.  Back in the day, it was Congress who determined who the enemy was and authorized the wars against them.  Now, sadly (and barely Constitutionally, through "delegation" of powers that were never meant to be delegated) it is the President.  At least those aspects of the war are still in civilian hands.

<< Why educate them and train them to run wars if they can't use their skills?>>

Their "skills" are to figure out the religious beliefs of their enemies  and broadcast it to the world?  I don't think so.

[BT]

The whole issue is a non starter. Obama's people came out with their pronouncement years after Petraeus wrote the Field Manual. If Obama's people want the manual changed they have a whole department available for just that task.

Like i said earlier just some think tank folks stirring the pot, looking for controversy where it isn't.

[Kramer]

<<what happened to the days when generals ran these aspects of war?>>

Never was and never will be.  Back in the day, it was Congress who determined who the enemy was and authorized the wars against them.  Now, sadly (and barely Constitutionally, through "delegation" of powers that were never meant to be delegated) it is the President.  At least those aspects of the war are still in civilian hands.

<< Why educate them and train them to run wars if they can't use their skills?>>

Their "skills" are to figure out the religious beliefs of their enemies  and broadcast it to the world?  I don't think so.

the enemy brought Islam into the war and the war is centered around their religion, the general is reacting to the enemy and the situation on the battlefield. if the enemy MO was related to some other reason for waging war the general would take that into account too. For example, if the war was was about Nazi world domination then that would factor into the battle plan. Kinda like the battle plans during WWII.

[Xavier_Onassis]

"The enemy brought Islam into the war". What does that mean?

The CIA made a deal years ago to provoke Muslims in the Central Asian Republics of the USSR by using Saudi missionary money to spread Wahabbi Islam into Pakistan and then into Azeribaijan, Tajikistan, Kazakstan, and Uzbekistan. This was one of Zbiggy Brezinski's ideas. Zbiggy was obsessed with what Stalin did to the Polish aristocracy in the Katin Forest. That was truly nasty, but on the other hand, Stalin was gone.

The Soviets eventually ended up invading Afghanistan to combat this.

Had the CIA not come up with its clever plans, many of the current problems would not exist. If the CIA and the British Intel had not overthrown Mossadegh in Iran and imposed the Shah, there would probably not have been any reason for the Islamic revolution in Iran.

[Michael Tee]

The CIA-British plot to overthrow the Mossadegh government and bring in the Shah was a direct and practically instantaneous response to Mossadegh's nationalization of the Anglo-Persian Oil Company (now BP.)  I really don't think it had any wider direct Cold War ramifications.    BP then and now was and is an immensely powerful organization not to be fucked with, and grabbing off its single most prized possession was NOT going to go unanswered.  I think it's fair to say that BP has a lot more influence over government actions than government has over BP actions.

[Xavier_Onassis]

BP does not control Iranian oil now. It was nationalized under the Shaha, no doubt with sweeter terms than Mossadegh was offering.

The fact remains that many, if not most of the reasons why the US has bases everywhere and has so many international problems stem from blowback of all the smartassed CIA plots and dirty tricks over the years, beginning with the OSS enlisting the Marsailles Mafia to abet the Nazis rather than to directly aid the Maquis. Gangsters, they felt, were easier to deal with than Communists.