The Watercooler for 10/24/09 1:00 AM

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/10/23/seymour-hersh-military-is_n_332139.html

Hersh, a Pulitzer-prize winning investigative journalist who exposed the My Lai massacre in Vietnam and the Abu Ghraib scandal in Iraq, sees an undercurrent of racism in the Pentagon's dealings with the White House. "They think he's weak and the wrong color. Yes, there's racism in the Pentagon. We may not like to think that, but it's true and we all know it."

As Neil Offen writes in the Durham Herald Sun:

"A lot of people in the Pentagon would like to see him get into trouble," he said. By leaking information that the commanding officer in Afghanistan, Gen. Stanley McChrystal, says the war would be lost without an additional 40,000 American troops, top brass have put Obama in a no-win situation, Hersh contended.

"If he gives them the extra troops they're asking for, he loses politically," Hersh said. "And if he doesn't give them the troops, he also loses politically."

Hersh considers the worsening situation in Afghanistan and Pakistan as the principal test of the Obama presidency, which will require the cooperation of the top military brass. Obama must face up to the military, Hersh said. "He's either going to let the Pentagon run him or he has to run the Pentagon." If he doesn't, according to Hersh, "this stuff is going to be the ruin of his presidency."

Unfortunately, it's the former now. That's why we still have DADT, and why we're murdering innocent people in the AFPAK theater.

He needs to fire the big-mouth generals and start acting like the CiC.

Unfortunately, it's the former now. That's why we still have DADT, and why we're murdering innocent people in the AFPAK theater.

He needs to fire the big-mouth generals and start acting like the CiC.

is an excellent way to show the Pentagon who is in charge.

counter-insurgency is a tactic of occupation and I think it very good that the whole issue is being thought through

there never was any hope for destroying al Queda's safe haven without Pakistan taking action

we need to hang around the neighborhood a few more months and see how the new election and the action next door turns out

Obama has already kept his campaign promise to pay attention