Blaming the generals

I posted the other day about how Bush was setting up his generals to take the blame for his Iraq War disaster. Thomas Ricks is writing about the same theme in Bush Leans On Petraeus as War Dissent Deepens: General Set Up as Scapegoat, Some Say Washington Post 07/15/07:

With opposition to Bush's Iraq strategy escalating on Capitol Hill, the president has sought, at least rhetorically, to transfer some of the burden of an unpopular war to his top general in Baghdad, wielding [Gen. David] Petraeus as a shield against a growing number of congressional doubters. In speeches and meetings, the president has implored his critics to wait until September, when Petraeus is scheduled to deliver a much-anticipated assessment of the U.S. mission in Iraq. ...

Some of Petraeus's military comrades worry that the general is being set up by the Bush administration as a scapegoat if conditions in Iraq fail to improve. "The danger is that Petraeus will now be painted as failing to live up to expectations and become the fall guy for the administration," one retired four-star officer said.

A couple of other Washington Post regulars are writing about it, too, including Dan Froomkin in How Bush Uses His Generals Washingtonpost.com 07/16/07, where he quotes the same passages from Bush's Thursday press conference that I did on the point. (Just sayin'.) William Arkin picked up on the same point in Listening to the Generals? Early Warning blog, Washingtonpost.com 07/13/07.

Tags: bush, iraq war