Potpourri on JCS, Iraq

Good piece in Asia Times

"Pace is taking the fall for these assholes," a retired marine general said. "If you know how the war started, if you know anything about [Ahmad] Chalabi or Cheney or anything like that, you're gone (my em). Peter Pace is being sacrificed to the White House failure in Iraq." The neo-conservative press has also weighed in, calling the Bush administration's decision "cowardly".

Gates was nonplussed and quickly announced that Pace's replacement would be the current chief of naval operations, Admiral Michael Mullen - a riposte that was a mini-declaration of war against the pro-war press.

Mullen, a tough-minded and hard-nosed conservative, is known for his scoffing (if private) dismissal of Washington's neo-conservatives, though sometimes he can barely keep it under wraps. During a recent Washington reception, he was asked by a reporter whether he would oppose an attack on Iran: "It's your job to convince the politicians just how stupid that would be," he said, "not mine."

Since the retirement of Colin Powell, four generals have served as JCS chairman. All have been weak.

"This has been a purposeful policy," a former senior army commander said. "Bill Clinton quietly advised George Bush that the last thing he wanted was to have a strong chairman, as Colin Powell was able to dictate military policy to Clinton because of his prestige. He really stood him up.

"After Powell retired, Rumsfeld and Bush made certain that they never had a man of Powell's caliber in the chair. That's how we eventually ended up with Pace. He was a good man, no doubt about it, but Mullen is a real shift. He's Gates' choice. He's a real leader. He can say 'no'. and he intends to."

This is not to say that the United States is about to win the Iraq war. It's not. And it won't. But a shift, small and perceptible - away from escalation and confrontation - has begun. There are people, powerful people, in Washington who are still committed to confronting Islam, whose default position is the deployment of another division, another aircraft carrier. But there are others now, also powerful, who oppose them.

As General Joseph Hoar has put it, "Perhaps we are finally, finally learning that this idea that Americans can walk down the street and be safe in Iraq is ludicrous. And perhaps we are also learning that we cannot drag a Muslim man out of his house in front of his family, in front of his wife and children, and humiliate him and expect to be considered a great power and a great people. Maybe, just maybe, we are starting to learn that too. And it's about time."

These guys learn at about the pouring speed of molasses in January.