Boot Doesn't Get It

Max Boot decides that he not only understands why Fallon was fired, but that it was a good thing for the Middle East. Such a smart guy. Let's read on:

What Fallon (and Barnett) don't seem to understand is that Fallon's very public assurances that America has no plans to use force against Iran embolden the mullahs to continue developing nuclear weapons and supporting terrorist groups that are killing American soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan. It is highly improbable that, as the profile implies, the president had any secret plans to bomb Iran that Fallon put a stop to. But there is no doubt that the president wants to maintain pressure on Iran, and that's what Fallon has been undermining.

By irresponsibly taking the option of force off the table, Fallon makes it more likely, not less, that there will ultimately be an armed confrontation with Iran.
----------
Like a lot of smart guys (or, at any rate, guys who think they're smart), Fallon seems to have outsmarted himself. He thinks the war in Iraq is a distraction from formulating "a comprehensive strategy for the Middle East," according to the profile. The reality is that the only strategy worth a dinar is to win the war in Iraq. If we fail there, all other objectives in the region will be much harder to attain; if we succeed, they will be much easier.

That's something that Petraeus and Lt. Gen. Ray Odierno -- the architects of the surge -- understood, but that Fallon never seemed to get. Let's hope that his successor will have a better grasp of the region and of his role. This president, any president, deserves a Centcom commander who carries out his policies rather than undermines them.

Wow. This staggeringly idiotic insight suggests that the idea of engaging the Iranians on military and regional security issues increases the instability, while Bush's current strategy has been working so well. One might agree with Boot that Fallon opposed Bush and Petreaus on how to run CENTCOM, but this is just stupidity in motion. Why exactly does Max Boot rate an editorial column in the LA Times? Certainly not based on this trash.

Comments

[Adrian]

Umm, how many people that have editorial columns in major newspapers "deserve" them based on the quality of their writing? Boot's no different.

[sglover]

Y'know, if I understand the right-wing nutjobs correctly, by now our swarthy foes have been so emboldened by self-hating leftist Fifth Columnists that wily old Sadr is probably going to set up branch offices in Atlanta and Des Moines and Tucson, and maybe launch a fund-raising telethon besides.

[Grandjester]

Eh, can't be much worse than Jerry Lewis...

[Raymond Lee]

Another way of criticising some columnists writing about Iran is to question why they don't concentrate on what is happening inside that country instead of chucking personal theories and White House personalities at it. Current events show that Iran has plenty of politically unrepresented dissenters ("Reformers") What is also revealing is the openness (uncensored that is) allowed by the Iranian authorities for some responsible Western reporting.Please take a look at yesterday's video'd Channel 4 Television News; http://www.channel4.com/news/locations/world.
Have a look at the moving comments of youth and some of their music.

Jon Snow shows how it should be done.
R.

[Barry]

Boot's *job* is to 'not get it'. By now, it's clear the only thing that he should be good is being marched through a minefield, or searching suspected suicide bombers at a checkpoint.