Will Petraeus Betray Us (Again)?

Way back a year and a half ago I used the headline "Will Petraeus Betray Us?" Less than three months later Moveon.com used almost the same phraseology: General Petraeus or General Betray Us?.

Back then it was a fun and games, of course, but now comes the alarming news that Petraeus is something more than a silly political rhyme.

Gareth Porter over at IPS News has the story US-IRAQ: Generals Seek to Reverse Obama Withdrawal Decision.

If you don't want to read the whole story, Consortium News has a capsule summary, The Petraeus Plot Against Obama:

President Barack Obama already appears to be the target of a well-organized strategy directed by senior military officials -- and aided by their allies in the Washington press corps -- to force Obama to renege on his campaign pledge to bring U.S. combat troops home from Iraq in 16 months.

I don't want to go all Seven Days in May here. At least not yet, but it is troubling when a general is apparently trying to subvert the will -- the orders -- of his Commander-in-Chief.

Did Petraeus Betray Us? Nailed It!

A long time back, I was the first person to use the doggerel rhyme Petraeus Betray Us.

Turns out I was right, but for the wrong reasons. The general couldn't keep it in his pants, and ended up spilling some pillow talk to his "journalist" biographer that appears to have gone against the national interest. So, yeah, Petraeus betrayed us.

Jeez, what is it with these guys? And why did Obama put him in charge of the CIA? Was it one of those "better inside the tent pissing out than outside the tent pissing in" things?

Did Petraeus Betray Us?

No, I don't have any inside dope. I'm just practicing for the Rethug spin when the war continues to spiral out of control because the "surge" isn't working, and the Baby Doc Maladministration finally has to blame someone for its repeated failures.

Since Baby Doc "listens" to the generals on the ground, it's obvious that Petraeus will have to fall on his sword.

Wait for it, and remember that you heard it here first.

Jim Webb -- Major Disappointment?

As much as I like the guy, he's been a disappointment to me.

It's true that he deserved major kudos for the Webb Amendment, even though the Rethugs conspired to kill it.

But he's also cast a couple of troubling votes recently: First he sided with the fascists to prevent the return of habeas corpus, the cornerstone of individual rights in this country, and then he sided with them again in the meaningless vote to "censure" MoveOn.org for its full-page NY Times "Petraeus/Betray us" ad (and remember where you heard that first?).

The guy was a lifelong Republican himself, so maybe it shouldn't come as a surprise, but it does, and if he's now slowly repositioning himself, now that he's been elected as a Dem, back to the Right, then maybe we all made an error in supporting his candidacy and sending him money to get elected.

I sure as hell hope not. What I am hoping is that these votes were just a couple of cynical calculations designed to keep him in good with the local yokels in Virginia. Maybe, but he will bear watching.

Here Comes the New Boss Just Like the Old Boss

In a move that surprised no one, Der Monkey Fuehrer has named military lapdog General Betrayus Petraeus to be head of Centcom. That's the overlord of the entire military presence in the Middle East, and that's the post that Admiral William Fallon quit because he could not in good conscience prepare for the war with Iran that Baby Doc and the other neocons so desperately are salivating for.

Not our boy Betrayus, though. He has that weird combination of ambition and subservience that Baby Doc admires in his subordinates, and the plans to go full speed ahead on the war with Iran will continue pretty much unabated, now that he's going to be in charge.

So why the headline? Not because Betrayus is like Fallon. No, because Betrayus's successor in Iraq will be Lt. Gen. Ray Odierno, whose command of the 4th Infantry Division in Iraq was highlighted by a series of war crimes.

Those two will certainly make a Dynamic Duo, but it's one that bodes ill for the already shaky future of our entire Middle East operations.

And it also gives an additional patina of inevitability to us going to war with Iran.