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Batiste Sticks His Finger in the Wind, Figures Out We’re Winning in Iraq, And Reverses His Own Course

Fellow Swamp Stomper Sister Toldjah, guesting over at Right Wing News: [1]

One of their favorite retired Generals, Major General John Batiste, who appeared in an ad for the anti-war Vote Vets website [2], and who had an op/ed published on the liberal anti-war website Think Progress [3] in August in which he called for the US to “begin a responsible and deliberate redeployment from Iraq,” has apparently changed his tune.

He, along with Vets for Freedom [4] executive director Lt. Pete Hegseth [5] had an opinion piece published in Saturday’s Washington Post [6] (h/t: Jim Addison [7]) in which they, together, call Iraq the “central” fight in the war on terror, discuss what steps they believe need to be taken in order for us to win the war on terror, and chastize Congress for not being able to move past their partisan differences in order to fund our troops. The key part of the piece which will cause the Nutroots heads to explode:

Second, whether or not we like it, Iraq is central to that fight. We cannot walk away from our strategic interests in the region. Iraq cannot become a staging ground for Islamic extremism or be dominated by other powers in the region, such as Iran and Syria. A premature or precipitous withdrawal from Iraq, without the requisite stability and security, is likely to cause the violence there — which has decreased substantially but is still present — to cascade into an even larger humanitarian crisis.Third, the counterinsurgency campaign led by Gen. David Petraeus is the correct approach in Iraq. It is showing promise of success and, if continued, will provide the Iraqi government the opportunities it desperately needs to stabilize its country. Ultimately, however, these military gains must be cemented with regional and global diplomacy, political reconciliation, and economic recovery — tools yet sufficiently utilized. Today’s tactical gains in Iraq — while a necessary pre-condition for political reconciliation — will crumble without a deliberate and comprehensive strategy.

I hope none of this surprised anybody too badly.   Batiste has always struck me as a finger in the wind pragmatist. He wants to be on the winning side.

One wonders if you will have the courage to admit that he was wrong about Rumsfeld [8].  I tend to doubt it. “Leaders need to be held accountable”  he said, back then. since we are now making progress after his retirement, does that mean he, Major General John Batiste(Ret)  should be held accountable?  I think so, but I doubt he does.  Funny, how that works.

So, leaving aside, for the moment, the angry observation of where we would be right now had we taken his advice given all too freely in that nonsense that “Think Progress” posted, there is something positive to be taken away from his more recent comments.  That being, that our actions in Iraq have now been elevated to being unquestionably the correct thing to do.

Welcome back to reality, General.   I wonder if you realize the implications of that transition.  It’s clear that the drooling idiots who were so thrilled when you showed up at “Think Progress” won’t.