New Masters?

The new ideological direction prompts several questions, including the eventual 'who?'. I was particularly struck, in his recent address to a group in Connecticut, by General Petreus' exaggerated republicanism. The new direction of US foreign policy includes hostility towards Israel, appeasement of Russia and Iran, softness towards China, N. Korea and Al Caida, abandonment of missile defense, military budget cuts, and a rhetorical rather than pragmatic approach to Afganistan. This can hardly please the prudent Petreus, and yet he combed through the contradictory statements of our top executives for short phrases supportive of his message and used them repeatedly. He ended his remarks by pointing out that CentCom, of which he is the chief, is a territory not only larger than Alexander the Great’s empire but than the old Persian empire itself. Is America running a world empire? Given the stakes in a time of nuclear proliferation and infiltrated stateless armies, it is nice to know that Petreus is at the helm.

Victor Davis Hanson, praising the US military (april 2, 2009) called it the most competent, judicious—and lethal—military in the history of civilization, and of the officer corps said that they are relics of an American past who believe in honor, duty, country, God, sacrifice, and the continuation of the American experiment, and claimed they will do almost anything as outlined in the Constitution to ensure that their country—you and I—is safe and continues on in perpetuity. What will such men, in whose hands lies such power and responsibility, do in the face of the current challenges from within?