Afghan War: "Under New Management"

[KurtNYC]

So you didn't like the old Afghan war? -- you know the one: dragging out, quagmire, strange bedfellows, and all that.

Well good news: the war is "Under New Management" This is the rebranding of the Afghan War. Something like when Phillip Morris became Altria. The fact that print media is being used in this McChrystal thing is, to me, a sign that the old guard, those within the military and US government who still think every war should be like WWII, is at work here. And this is a PR campaign with a real retro feel to it.

Look if Joe Biden, or Obama, are too thin skinned to have someone's aide call them "Bite me" in print then they shouldn't be running the show. But hold your fire because I don't think that is the case at all. More likely the decision to replace McC and rebrand the war in June of an election year was made months ago. And the RS article is both an excuse to make that change and a sales pitch for the new war. The article lays out the flaws in McC's strategy so the idea is perhaps, that when we get rid of McC we get rid of those flaws.

Okay so Petraeus is in charge so it is kind of like the introduction of "the New Coke" (which tasted exactly like Pepsi) but there are months left to go and they can switch out Petraeus just in time to freshen up the war again before November.

[Oregone]

1. Its Coca-Cola Zero Time!

Yeah...so much tastier. I swear!

[Frances]

2. You missed the point

Obama did not fire McCrystal for policy reasons; he fired him for not following the rules. If someone in the military under McCrystal had done the same thing that McCrystal did, he too would have been punished. It's called the chain of command at that stage. At the general's stage it's called civilian control of the military.

[KurtNYC]

3. my point is whatever the reason for changing out McC, the article

talks about many of the things that are wrong in the Afghan war. It is like a mini-Pentagon papers and then we get a change of leadership. The timing of this works to make a mildly opposed war, slightly less opposed before elections.

[IndianaGreen]

4. Like when Blackwater became Xe

Same old shit in a different package.