PRESS - I'm hopeful that you are right about Senator Obama's view of Gen Patraeus' actions.

Commanders have had a really difficult time since Preseident Johnson personally selected targets with the SEC DEF in the Oval Office - what a muckup! The political climate is so charged that SEC DEFs and Presidents can't bring themselves to let the man they hired do the job they were hired to do.

In my opinion, Presidents assign folks to jobs, outline the objectives, specify any particular constraints, and then get the hell out of way - like any good leader. And make no mistake, any General who takes such a job knows exactly what he's getting into. Some do so in spite of the potentially ungrateful politicians, MSM, and public. Others are so "starry eyed" they take the job for the chance to be labelled "great men" even tho their success rate must be valued as low. I don't envy either kind of commander.

And to be truthful, I don't envy any President who is in that position either - self administered or not. No one today is prepared to say, "Well, you failed, but you gave it your best effort and we couldn't ask for any more than that." These days, even success can be considered a *** - if you're from the other party. (This is a reference to the old saying that "success has many fathers, but failure is a ***.")

I'm afraid I wouldn't make a good commander these days - at least not at that level. Skill isn't enough. Character isn't enough. Leadership isn't enough. Intelligence isn't enough. Knowledge isn't enough. And even if one has all of those qualities in abundance, it isn't enough if the results aren't 100% clearly successful. Gen Swartzkof earned and received praise from both sides of the aisle. Gen Tommy Franks did too---for a while, but the insurgencies got him.

Let's all hope Senator Obama recognizes the accomplishments, whatever they are, and gives the general his due.

Don

P.S. Note my use of "whatever they are". I'm in no position to know any truths about what is going on in Iraq. And like many, I'm highly skeptical of news reporting - too biased with too many agenda (not hidden either). And unfortunately, I'm a little afraid that signs of lessening violence are as much due to the insurgents' as they are due to anything we're doing - just a nagging feeling - not facts. I so sincerely hope that the bad guys have been so demoralized that they see the futility of killing each other and us that they simply quit - at least the ones from Iraq. (The ones from outside the country have a lot at stake to keep this going as long as possible)