The Daily Background

Flashback to the exchange John Warner (R-VA) and General Petraeus had on 9/11/07:

WARNER: I hope in the recesses of your heart that you know that strategy will continue the casualties, stress on our forces, stress on military families, stress on all Americans. Are you able to say at this time, if we continue what you have laid before the Congress, this strategy, that if you continue, you are making America safer?

PETRAEUS: Sir, I believe that this is indeed the best course of action to achieve our objectives in Iraq.

WARNER: Does that make America safer?

PETRAEUS: Sir, I don’t know actually.

Now here’s David Brooks in the NYT today describing an exchange he had with Secretary of Defense Robert Gates:

I asked him whether invading Iraq was a good idea, knowing what we know now. He looked at me for a bit and said, “I don’t know.”

No? If Bush’s Secretary of Defense and his top General in Iraq don’t know if the Iraq war is good or bad, why is he so sure? Especially when he’s constantly talking about how he listens to his military men (”Generals on the ground” etc)…

Filed under: Z-TDB Blog