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Born at the Crest of the Empire

Sunday, May 20, 2007

Kinda creepy

I understand what Petraeus is trying to accomplish, and I have no doubt his motives are anything but pure, but take away the American element and imagine that you live in an occupied country whether it's Vichy France, Eastern bloc under the Soviets or whatever, and you saw this letter posted by the top occupying military commander.

posted by mikevotes at 9:24 PM

4 Comments:

  • Yes. Creepy, indeed.

    Recently I noticed something that's been in plain view for some time: the military is being used as the political voice of American foreign policy in Iraq. It has been heaped upon the armed forces to not only engage in the military campaign and occupation of Iraq, but also plan and provide for the rebuilding of local infrastructures and for the political engagement with the Iraqi government -- both local and regional. It's all very Roman Empiresque.

    The only American face Iraqi's see -- no matter what the context -- is that of an army (or the occasional corrupt civil contractor/mercenary). There is no American foreign policy which is not implemented (if not developed) by the military.

    By Blogger -epm, at 10:52 AM  

  • Well, to some degree, it's being retaken by default as the State Department can't fill any provincial reconstruction teams, and other departments can't find anyone willing to go to Iraq.

    The military is filling alot of those reconstruction posts because it is their men who are dying while the Cabinet secretaries dither.

    And, yes, every step away from the military would be a bonus in reconstruction, but it's not happening any other way.

    By Blogger mikevotes, at 11:06 AM  

  • Good point re: the State Dept.

    I still feel an unhealthy reliance on the military as THE answer for everything. Bush says "fix Iraq" and then goes sees his personal work done, putting the generals in charge (a la LTG Lute, War Czar) of managing everything from soup to nuts.

    By Blogger -epm, at 12:09 PM  

  • Well, again, that's because the military is already there and really can't escape the reponsibility the war others have.

    By Blogger mikevotes, at 2:20 PM  

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