Bush Rewards Yet More Incompetence

General David Patraeus has been tapped by President Bush to become the new United States Central Command leader, even as Petraeus's abysmal record in Iraq is held up to a place of esteem by this delusional madman in the White House.

As U.S. military deaths in Iraq reach 4,044, with two more brave marines cut down just yesterday, and with IED's exploding, rockets fired at the so called 'Green Zone', and all out warfare breaking out in Sadr City again, the President calls Patraeus's time as Commander of forces in theater a success.

As head of USCentCom, Patraeus will be responsible for all military operations covering an area between Europe and the Pacific Ocean. The post has been recently held by Admiral William Fallon, who gave a gloomy outlook to Congress for the success of introducing any sort of real democracy in Iraq, and stated that it was his belief that the best outcome that could be achieved was a coalition type of government made up of all the different fighting factions, including the Al-Sadr one. He also said he didn't believe that the U.S. was doing enough to secure Afghanistan, with the Taliban resurging, and the opium trade growing to record levels.

The moment those words left Fallon's lips, his days were numbered. Patraeus on the other hand, went before Congress and dodged many a question. He painted a rose colored glasses picture that everyone knew was little more than a parroting of Bush and Cheney's talking points. And so once again the Bush administration shows that it doesn't matter if you are capable of doing the job, nor the most qualified person for a given position. The President rewards on the basis of loyalty to him, and nothing else. He packs the high places of our military with the same blindly obedient types that he has packed our Department of Justice with.

Knowing what we know about Patraeus, one has to wonder at this sudden shift in the command structure when Bush only has nine months left in office. But all one has to do is take a glance at the world map to see the game that is afoot. Squeezed in between Iraq and Afghanistan is the real prize for these neo-con maniacs. Iran. Top military planner won't go along with your insane plan to bomb the Iranians? No problem. Just force him to resign and put a puppet political general in his place. Because that's exactly what they plan on doing despite all of their denials.

It was but a few days ago that Defence Sec. Gates told a group of cadets that Iran was hell bent on acquiring nuclear weapons and that we would not allow that to happen. He also was critical of army publications for printing the dissenting views of soldiers serving in theater, who believe the Iraq conflagration is a lost cause. That's right. No dissent means no dissent. So goodbye to Admiral Fallon.

In Iraq, the new Commander will be Lt. Gen. Ray Odierno, another political hack, and Patraeus's right hand man. So now, instead of having military men who make decisions based on the reality of the situation on the ground, we'll have two generals in highly placed positions, doing the bidding of this would be emperor in the White House.

The Senate must still confirm General Patraeus's appointment to the CentCom command position. The same Senate which was angry and dissatisfied with Patraeus's answers during the recent round of questioning. Hopefully this time they grow a back bone, and tell this President that there will be no more rewarding of political loyalists, who do the bidding of the Republican Party, even if it means more Americans must die, more people will suffer unbearably, and our entire nation goes down the economic drain. We need people who will stand up and say that something is wrong, stick to their guns, and if need be, go public when this war mongering administration wants to do something that is against the interests of the People. Patraeus should not be confirmed and this Senate must just say no.

Because if they do cave in again and confirm this puppet general, they may as well just make the entire U.S. Military an arm of the political apparatus, a move that would cause the founding fathers to roll over in their collective graves.