All the focus of the NEWS seems, in my native U.S., to be on the nominee
for the Supreme Court. Me, I’ve got the general on my mind.  I don’t really know
if his words run counter to the intentions of the Commander-in-Chief, but his words do go against the principles that got Commander-in-Chief Obama elected.  The principle I like that might not be exactly the same is if a war is worth fighting, it is certainly worth declaring.  This means the military needs to get it through Congress.  That has not happened in a long time.  oh yeah, the general’s name is George Casey, Junior.

Since when do we have a still active general making an address to a think tank? The think tank, that does not want to be called that, is the Atlantic Council of the United States. Putting of the United States after “council” looks suspiciously like we want to imply that it is a part of the U.S. government; it is not.

…  we’re already at war with a global extremist organization, I believe that leads us to the notion that we will operate in an era of what I call persistent conflict, protracted confrontation among state, non-state and individual actors who are increasingly willing to use violence to accomplish their political and ideological objectives.   … we’ve got a decade or so of that ahead of us.  And that really drives us as an Army to say we have to take that into consideration.  And I believe we will have 10 brigades of Army and Marine Corps forces committed for the next decade in places around the world.

But, the headline was Army Chief Says US Ready to be in Iraq For 10 Years. I was suspicious just because of the timing. The story written by AP’s Tom Curley came across mid morning my time (here in Japan) which would mean late night in (your) American Eastern time zone.

Frederick Kempe said to General Casey, as an introduction to an introduction,

many of the people in the audience may not know that you were a senior fellow – you served as a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council. And what pleases me the most about that is it’s proof positive that this is not an impediment to a military career.

So, did the general take a job at the think tank while serving in the U.S. Army, or did he leave the army and return after having camped at the think tank?

Back to the original late night story.  (I think the general had to have addressed his audience afternoon or midday), reporter Curley points to Casey saying that “We are going to have 10 Army and Marine units deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan for a decade.” Maybe I’m too much into semantics, but that “and” is not “OR.”   The U.S. Army Chief of Staff seems to be working against The Status of Forces agreement that the Bush administration worked out with the Iraqi government just in time.  What the General suggests is NOT LEGAL under that agreement.

Is Casey in the chain of command, the same one that has Robert Gates up the chain from him and saying as recently as February at Camp Lejeune that he intends to remove all U.S. troops from Iraq by the end of 2011.   Actually, I think I have a better grasp of the agreement than the Secretary of Defense.  I think the agreement was to get out by the end of 2010.   I’m thinking 18 months from NOW, and sooner would be better if we want to impress the Iraqi people who might regard the American military as trespassing.

Now let’s get down to business.  You can have a fine career as a general in the U.S. Army and still get your foolish fanny fired.  The prime example, though I cannot really think of anyone since, is when President Truman fired Douglas McArthur I dare say the circumstances are now very similar to that occasion.

( coming back months later, I see Casey as dangerously
empowered and dangerously deceptive. 2010, FEB. 21 )