 |
Gen. Petraeus: Political Shill |
 |
What business does an active duty general have in weighing in on the presidential election? Gen. Petraeus seems to have no problem wading into politics, as we’ve seen in the past. Gen. Petraeus played politics again today–a few minutes ago, MSNBC ran an interview in which Andrea Mitchell asked Gen. Petraeus about Barack Obama’s plan to withdraw and redeploy troops from Iraq over a 16 month period. I naively wondered why Gen. Petraeus didn’t beg off, declining to comment on a specific proposal at issue in the presidential election. Instead, he gave the McCain response, saying timetables are not a good idea, that decisions must be based on facts on the ground, and adding that “the enemy might get a vote” (meaning we might have to respond to insurgent activity).Â
I am paraphrasing, as there is no transcript or video available yet. This is dangerous stuff. Active duty generals shouldn’t be just one more cable TV talking head. I would have thought this was obvious, but Gen. Petraeus’s shows otherwise.
