The search for honest, frank, competent military advice should be a short one....the Joint Chiefs of Staff. That is the reason for their existence, to give advice, they do not command troops.

That said, they normally give advice to the Secretary of Defense and the President, who are free to ignore it. Furthermore, late in an administration, the advice they give will often be the advice that the administration (who appointed them in the first place) wants. That is also true of many senior generals in command.

To expect General Petraeus, appointed to his position by the Bush administration, to testify contrary to administration policy (as did General Shinseki) is tantamount to his offering his resignation.

Any career military man should have the integrity to give the SecDef and the President his honest recommendations and not just rubber stamp what the adminstration wants. And they should be able to do it without having to design.

Testimony before Congress, however, is different. The general should not be the one having to sell the administration's policy. That's supposed to be the SecDef's job. Unfortunately, Team Bush has spent all their credibility, so they have to hide behind Petraeus.

I just returned from a serving a tour with GEN Petraeus. He is an an honorable man, which is a concept that many of you Bush haters will never understand. Maybe, just maybe Gen Petraeus wants to win and needs some time to do it. Maybe he wants 25 million Iraqis to live in a free democracy where women now have the right to vote. If you have no character, you will not be able to see it and appreciate it in others. PS, nice turn the economy has taken since we voted in the democrats in 2006. I have really noticed the change I can believe in since then.

So other than personal attacks and unsubstantiated assumptions about my character, do you have anything of substance to add to the discussion? Anything besides tired old talking points?

No?

I'm sure Petraeus is an honorable man. I never questioned that. I just think it's unfortunate that Bush is using him as a human shield.

But I expect you'll just make more personal attacks on my character and call me a Bush hater for wanting this disaster of a war to end so that fewer young men and women have to go over there to fight and die for oil, I mean the freedom of the Iraqis.

Whatever.