Reply #18: It's not betrayal for a soldier to obey the orders of the C-in-C . . .

[MrModerate]

Unless those orders constitute war crimes. I happen to believe that the whole Iraq adventure is a war crime, but at present that is a minority view, and even a Nuremberg-type prosecution would not snag Petreus.

Petreus' testimony was spin rather than outright lies, which is time-honored in human societies.

Allowing the war party to claw back credibility through an unnecessarily provocative headline is just plain stupid. We're talking shortening the war here, not achieving perfect karma so we can all be reincarnated as something higher than a cockroach. The MoveOn headline (as opposed to the ad) contributed -- significantly -- to the failure of legislation that would have (presidential veto notwithstanding) shortened the war. Hence it was a bonehead move.