Fork in the Road
August 24th, 2007This is the type of news that changes the course of a War and dictates how history will be written for future generations.
The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff is expected to advise President Bush to reduce the U.S. force in Iraq next year by almost half, potentially creating a rift with top White House officials and other military commanders over the course of the war. Administration and military officials say Marine Gen. Peter Pace is likely to convey concerns by the Joint Chiefs that keeping well in excess of 100,000 troops in Iraq through 2008 will severely strain the military. This assessment could collide with one being prepared by the U.S. commander in Iraq, Army Gen. David H. Petraeus, calling for the U.S. to maintain higher troop levels for 2008 and beyond.
To be sure, the relationship between George W. Bush and his father, George W. Bush and the Pentagon, George W. Bush and Donald Rumsfeld, Donald Rumsfeld and Doug Feith and Paul Wolfowitz, Dick Cheney and everyone — these will all impact history, but from this point forward, whether George W. Bush listens to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff or the Army General in Iraq will influence matters greatly. If he continues on the course we’ve set, Petraeus will be blamed in historical circles for advising the President to continue, and that is historically significant for reasons I don’t have to explain to someone as smart as you, Dear Reader.