First off this morning, I’d like to point you to abu muqawama’s comments on a critique of Gen. Petraeus, our current commander in Iraq, by Andrew Bacevich in The New Republic.

A couple of his comments that I completely agree with (and many of which I’ve posted here about before):

• [T]he big problem, as Bacevich sees it, is that the strategy that Petraeus and his crew are trying to implement is exactly the correct strategy … four years too late.
• Let us not forget that the U.S. military — as opposed to the civilian policy-makers in Washington — has made more than its fair share of mistakes in Iraq. And when the war ends, the burden of defeat will rest not just on the shoulders of the geniuses who got us into this mess but also a military that wasn’t prepared for the war it was ordered to fight.

You can find more of his comments and snippets of the column at abu muqawama’s site.