FWIW -

I commented the other day on McChrystal being an f’up.

Patreaus has now modified the McChrystal Rules Of Engagement which is great news. I am very glad that Obama removed McChrystal and came around to seeing counter insurgency from Patreaus’ perspective. The sneaky-pete/ secret war/ leave the grunts exposed and uninformed was a loser strategy from the moment McChrystal assumed command. Yet I am sure the idea of a discrete/shoot to kill/take no prisoners war attracting little public attention (and requiring no interrogations since you simply kill anyone you suspect of anything) conducted exclusively by special ops appealed to Obama as a way to get Afghanistan done without it entering the public consciousness. I am very glad that Obama is capable of adapting and engaging what has proven to work even though he himself has condemned Patreaus’ ways in the past. Now if he can get his brain-dead VP to STFU and get Richard Holbrooke to keep his ego on simmer we might actually make progress there.