GEN. PETRAEUS HAS ARRIVED - EVERYONE ELSE CAN GO HOME

For those of you who haven't read my blog of December 3, 2009, or if you've forgotten it, take a moment to look at it. Especially the part about 'What the Taliban Heard.'

My hat is off to Gen. Petraeus for seeing his duty and stepping up. Gen. McChrystal was rightly relieved of command - he probably saluted and said "You don't know how relieved I am, Sir" when departing the Oval Office - and both poser-in-chief Obama and his lapdog congress rushed to thrust Gen Petraeus into his now empty traces.

But what is Gen Petraeus's actual duty? Is it victory? Is it pacification? Is it casualty minimization? Road and school building? No, it is none of those things. And he knows it. He knows that he has been sent over to Afghanistan so that, eventually, Mr. Impeachable can point a finger at him and say "We sent our finest officer to command our forces, and still we couldn't succeed. That proves the battle is futile and it's time to pull our sons and daughters out of there." Yes, Gen. Petraeus failure will be the proverbial final straw. He knows he is to be thrown under the bus.

Never mind that he will be deprived of the resources he needs. Never mind that he is hamstrung with a time certain withdrawal scheme, developed without regard to military or political objectives by a party wholly invested in defeat. Never mind that he and his forces are emasculated with rules of engagement (You did read my December 3 column, right?) so stringent that scarcely a trigger can be pulled without landing an American in jail.

But Gen. Petraeus will do his best. That's his nature, and he'll do it. A pity that his best needs ammo and equipment and troops and intelligence. He won't be getting those things, because if he did he might actually pull off a victory of sorts. But our leadership on the left side of the aisle and in the Oval Office yearn for defeat, are clamoring for defeat, are universally predicting defeat, so they will carry out any unworthy deception - including lying to the American electorate - to bring about our defeat.

Makes one wonder how they can even lay claim to the title "American." I salute the General, I flip off the poser-in-chief and the sorry leadership of the left in congress and say to them that they are not fooling everyone.