Well. It looks like Bush has not only latched on to the AEI so-called plan for Iraq, he’s been willing to fire his generals to do it (This mentioned on BBC News tonight – Eric Martin confirms it. Looks like it’s a sailor at CENTCOM and Petraeus in Iraq. Could be worse). Worse, he’s actually managed to add more stupid to it. Fred Kagan’s document, for all its immense failings, did at least confess the necessity of sane counterinsurgency tactics, better intelligence, economic reconstruction and such. No, it seems much of the “surge” is going to the border with Iran to interdict supposed terrorist smugglers, ‘cos the Iraqi nativists in the Mahdi Army and the Sunni ex-NCOs in the NOIA really like Eyeraaan. Not so much “Moltke, Moltke, geben Sie mir meine Legionen zurück!” as..well..Napoleon’s crack about preventing contraband from passing to the enemy feels right, but in fact, there aren’t any precedents for this. To the best of my knowledge, this is the first time in world history a sovereign state has privatised its general staff.
Strange times. I wonder who next? After AEI gets its teeth punched out, that only leaves the trolls. Richard North for British Ambassador, Zombietime for Master of Sewers, Malkin as Assistant Secretary for Public Diplomacy, Coulter at State, Adam Yoshida at Defence. It’s the obvious logical progression.
“this is the first time in world history a sovereign state has privatised its general staff.”
How about the Renaissance City States of Northern Italy and their mercenary captains, the Condottieri ?