All anyone has to do to know what is going on surgewise in Iraq (or Afghanistan, Iran, Pakistan, etc.) on a daily basis is to read Juan Cole's web site, http://www.juancole.com/.

It is not a big secret.

Massive Bomb Kills 22, Wounds 60 at Hillah
US Blockades Mahdi Army
New Turkish Government may Decline Military Option

posted by Juan Cole @ 7/24/2007 06:25:00 AM

is today's example.

It is blatantly obvious that Petraeus is as much a propagandist as the media people he "informs." That is not at issue. What is at issue is whether he and his bosses will be held accountable for it, both politically and in the media.

You are doing a good job, Glenn. I just wish you had more help.

In the military, you can tell your superiors what you think instead of what they think. That will usually get you fired.

Or, you can tell your superiors what they think by repeating what they say. That will get you promoted, at until such time as a scapegoat is needed:

Incidentally, Mr. Graham appears to have followed President Bush’s lead in the frequency with which he invokes the name of General Petraeus as the near-final authority on the war. The Washington Post reported Sunday that Mr. Bush had publicly mentioned the general 53 times in May, nearly double the 28 in April.

Mr. Graham made a respectable run at such numbers by dropping General Petraeus’s name 10 times in the space of a relatively brief television appearance, in phrases like “When General Petraeus comes back, he will tell us these things”; and “I will not vote for anything until General Petraeus passes on it.”

http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/07/15/sunday-sampler-platter-july-15/

That is the deal you make. You do what is expected, even if it means "taking one for the team." In return, you receive your just reward. I'm sure Gen. Petraeus will receive his just reward in due time.

Mr. Harold has apparently never served in the military and gets his ideas from Hollywood and Sgt. Rock comic books. You could not be more wrong.

Why is it that certain commentators on this blog continue to make assumptions about the backgrounds and experiences of others?

I enlisted in the USAF-R in 1969 at 17 and was trained as an Operating Room Tech. Afterwards, I went to college and became an urban planner. As an urban planner, I worked as a direct report to a retired Chief of Planning for SAC, a retired commander of a USAF airbase, and a retired commanding officer of a USAF SR-71 Blackbird reconnaissance group.

That was a long time ago and I have done other things since then. If you are telling me that the internal politics of the military has changed radically in the last forty years, I will listen. But I have seen nothing but politics since the day George Bush was elected. I have seen the best generals fired for providing their honest opinions and the the remaining generals elevated through attrition. That sounds like politics to me.

And in a major artery, kudos to the blogosphere's shining lights Digby, Scott Horton and Jane Hamsher for all pointing out on the same day AG Gonzales's penchant for lying through his teeth in order to obstruct justice so that his superiors (read George Bush and Dick Cheney) can get away with murder.

Like my Dad used to say, "That guy would pay a nickel to lie when he could tell the truth for free."

You've gone and mentioned Israel, Joe Lieberman, The Rapture and gays in New Orleans all in the same article.

Expect your own personal Armageddon to start ringing the phone off the hook any second.

You are absolutely correct!

I'm trying to think of an alternative:

1) vibrating off the table, 2) blinking like a little nightlight in heaven, 3) playing your favorite ringtone nonstop?

On another note:

Dierk

Glenn, parts of your post could be construed as being anti-Israel,

Glenn, expect several sharply worded statements from AIPAC, the ADL and the head curator of the Creation Museum before the day is out. Also, expect your Wiki entry to be attacked and re-edited by a horde of Rapture Ready Wiki watchers.