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Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Saideman Shoots and Scores!

Ok, so I got one thing right this year: McChrystal got fired.  Obama ended up being more decisive about insubordination than about the difficult choices last fall about Afghanistan.  And then he chooses Gen. Petraeus.  Interesting.  Who gets CENTCOM?  General Matthis? 

I do think the idea of taking out other elements of the dysfunctional team--Holbrooke and Eikenberry--makes sense.  But perhaps this is enough for one week.  Will the change make a big difference on the ground?  No.  McC was following, more or less, the Petraeus playbook on Counter-Insurgency except for that working with civilians stuff.  So, we may see some improvement, but the major forces right now are Karzai and Pakistan.  Petraeus is not a miracle worker. 

I would like to thank McC for helping to illustrate some of my arguments during the opening panel on Tuesday--civilian control of the military indeed!

I have some thoughts on some of the stuff in the article, but have been conferenced out.  More tomorrow after I get back to Montreal.

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