Sorry, got back from work at about midnight last night. Didn't get a chance to check the 'Cat.


Petraeus had no idea, as most people did not, that al-Qaeda would be as consistently stupid as it has been--and that their vicious barbaric "Moslem Puritanism" would cause the huge revulsion in the Sunni population that it did. He may be very intelligent but his crystal ball is not perfect, just as Mudcatters are not always correct in foretelling the future. (But many Mudcatters and Obama predicted many of the problems which have occurred as a result of the Iraq war--in contrast to the fools who beat the drum for war-- on Mudcat and elsewhere.)

As a prudent military man, Petraeus felt he wanted to maximize his forces. But, as it turns out, it was not necessary.

To say that the current success in Iraq is due to the " surge"--more troops--is the post hoc fallacy.


One more thing: There is nothing inherently wrong with being a Sunni. Just as there is nothing inherently wrong with being a Shiite. There is obviously something wrong with being a Nazi.   Teribus' parallel of Nazis and Sunnis is only dead wrong but pernicious---as is his further dehumanization of Moslems by talking of the "9 old gits"-- since it leads to completely wrong policies.   This sort of attitude exemplifies the worst of Western cultural blind arrogance--but it's not surprising to see in Bush supporters.

So, as I said, it's certainly good that Petraeus has totally rejected Teribus' worse-than-uesless attitude regarding the Sunnis--and a very good thing that Teribus has, to say the least, limited clout in the Mideast.