LITTLE ROCK — IT’S SAID that at a low point in the American civil war-there were so many-Abraham Lincoln met with a group of congressmen to discuss whether a Union commander should be replaced. (So many needed to be.) Whom would you suggest take over? the president wanted to know. “Anybody,” somebody replied.
Anybody is good enough for you, the president replied, but, “I must have somebody.”
The current occupant of the White House has his somebody. His name is David Petraeus. May he be as successful as a general named Grant once was.
General Petraeus takes over from General Stanley McChrystal, who was relieved as commander of American, and therefore all allied, forces in Afghanistan as of Wednesday. General McChrystal made the mistake, among many, of giving a reporter for Rolling Stone full access to his not-so-charmed circle. And his career was as good as over right there.
Even if the general hadn’t said anything in the article that outright dissed the president and others in authority, his aides certainly didn’t hold back. That, and the whole locker-room atmosphere at the general’s headquarters-complete with trash talk and towel snapping, or at least middle finger wagging-was enough to have anybody serious questioning General McChrystal’s fitness for command. How professional the general was 99.999 percent of the time didn’t matter after that Rolling Stone interview. Character can be all.
Lots of folks wondered . . . . What the hey? Of all our old buddies in the ranks we talked with last week, their biggest shock wasn’t that troopers, even highranking officers, talk smack during a war. The officers and NCOs and grunts are mostly young, away from home and family, in a macho environment with camo and ammo-and, oh, by the way, other people are shooting at them. That they would cuss and snap only proves they’re human. That they would gripe about their superiors only proves they’re soldiers.
But to give an interview to Rolling Stone? Talk about a death wish. That’s what surprised folks familiar with the military. And those who know anything about American journalism. The Rolling (here insert a long string of Expletives Deleted you learned from your first sergeant) Stone?
Maybe the general should have been removed for just a complete absence of common sense. Give a reporter from some left-leaning magazine a recorder and a month of your invaluable time, and he’ll write a story about how you hate your mama. And quote you directly. That a four-star general would flunk Public Relations 101 like this-and that his staff would let him, and even join in . . . well, maybe the brilliant general wasn’t as brilliant as we all thought.
SO NOW General David Petraeus takes over. The Surge in Iraq that he conceived, engineered and sold to an increasingly desperate president and largely irresponsible Senate is now widely seen as having turned the tide. No thanks to those masterminds in Congress who opposed it at the time. (See the current chain of command for prominent examples.) We still haven’t forgotten the distinguished senator from New York who said it would take a “willing suspension of disbelief” to believe the general’s strategy would work. She’s now the secretary of state of the United States. Nothing succeeds in this country like failure to comprehend. Happily, she’s now a great fan of General Petraeus-and for thatmatter, an all-out supporter of General McChrystal’s strategy in Afghanistan, which is still operative.
Here’s hoping the new commander in Afghanistan lives up to his reputation as being a little geeky, a lot smart, and, most of all, somebody who believes in victory-and can achieve it. After all, he literally wrote the book, or at least edited it, about counter-insurgency warfare.
Yes, some of us still hope for victory in Afghanistan. What would that look like? We’re happy to answer that question: We don’t know. But we know how to assure defeat: Pull out now. Begin by promising to start the pull-out next July, which is just what our sage commander-in-chief has promised. He was also one of those far-sighted senators a few years back who said the Surge would never work in Iraq before it did.
Defeat in Afghanistan is no more attractive an alternative than it was in Iraq. It might be even less so. Because once the Americans and various allies leave on schedule, the way would be open for the Taliban to take back Afghanistan’s government. And once again provide a home for al-Qaida. Or have we forgotten September 11, 2001? Let’s not risk another one.
No, we’re not sure what vicitory would look like in Afghanistan, but having the Taliban in charge again, parading in the streets of Kabul, chanting anti-American slogans, consigning women to their usual harems, claiming victory and re-claiming government offices, and hanging all those brave Afghans who dared work with us over the last nine arduous, sacrificial years . . . . All that doesn’t seem like victory. It sounds more like a nightmare. Think of the ignomious way we left Vietnam with our friends dangling from the helicopters. Please, not again.
When folks start asking if Afghanistan is worth it, we have to think: How could it not be? Defeat may seem cheap-a real bargain-at some particularly tempting moment, but it may prove the most expensive choice in the long run as one defeat leads to another ever closer to home.
THE PRESIDENT’S remarks this week were encouraging. It’s remarkable how a politician’s views change when he moves from the legislative to the executive branch. Suddenly he’s responsible for things. Including wars. Especially if he’s commander-inchief of the armed forces of the United States of America. It can be a sobering burden.
“We are going to break the Taliban’s momentum,” President Obama says. “We are going to build Afghan capacity. We are going to relentlessly apply pressure on al-Qaida and its leadership, strengthening the ability of both Afghanistan and Pakistan to do the same.”
And he added, most assuringly: “We will not tolerate a safe haven for terrorists who want to destroy Afghansociety from within and launch attacks against innocent men, women and children in our country and around the world.”
He seems to remember September 11, 2001.
In return, come the end of next year, we’ll remember his words. That’s a promise.
Editorial, Pages 84 on 06/27/2010