So Much For That Culture Of Personal Responsibility

Once again the Current Occupant of the White House has sent General Petraeus to the Hill to take the brunt of the criticism for the administration's failures in Iraq.

Josh Marshall shares this from another General's appearance there a week ago. This is what Army Vice Chief of Staff, Gen. Richard A. Cody had to say.

Last week, the General appeared before the Senate Armed Services Committee
and testified that this method of engineering has failed. “Today’s Army is out
of balance,” Cody said. He continued:

"The current demand for our forces in Iraq and Afghanistan exceeds the sustainable supply, and limits our ability to provide ready forces for other contingencies. . . . Soldiers, families, support systems and equipment are stretched and stressed. . . . Overall, our readiness is being consumed as fast as we build it. If unaddressed, this lack of balance poses a significant risk to the all-volunteer force and degrades the Army’s ability to make a timely response to other contingencies."
…
In normal times, when an active four-star general implies in public that the Army is under such strain that it might flounder if an unexpected war broke out, or might
require a draft to muster adequate troop levels, he could expect to provoke
concern and comment from, say, the President of the United States. Some time
ago, however, George W. Bush absolved himself of responsibility for his Iraq
policy and its consequences by turning the war over to General David H. Petraeus
…