Petraeus Is Eddie Haskell

For those of you who are not American, or are too young to remember him, Eddie Haskell is a character from an almost year old comedy, "Leave it to Beaver^*". He was the friend of the title character's older brother, and a repulsive troublemaker who never failed to suck up to the adults when they were around^†.

Well, it appears that Admiral William Fallon, chief of the Central Command (CENTCOM), and the good general's boss feels much the same way about Petraeus as the audience was supposed to about Eddie Haskell. It has been reported that the admiral told the general that he thought he was:

"an ass-kissing little chickens*it" and added, "I hate people like that", the sources say. That remark reportedly came after Petraeus began the meeting by making remarks that Fallon interpreted as trying to ingratiate himself with a superior.

Of note, Fallon appears to be a stand up guy, who is doing major pushback against the politicization of the military, and he has been steadfast, in opposing an attack on Iran.

Fallon acquired a reputation for a willingness to stand up to powerful figures during his tenure as commander in chief of the Pacific Command from February 2005 to March 2007. He pushed hard for a conciliatory line toward and China, which put him in conflict with senior military and civilian officials with a vested interest in pointing to China as a future rival and threat.

He demonstrated his independence from the White House when he refused in February to go along with a proposal to send a third naval carrier task force to the Persian Gulf, as reported by IPS in May. Fallon questioned the military necessity for the move, which would have signaled to Iran a readiness to go to war. Fallon also privately vowed that there would be no war against Iran on his watch, implying that he would quit rather than accept such a policy.

It should also be noted that the General's duties in Iraq had been securing arms Saddam's military, the ones that are used against us, and training the Iraqi police force, the one that is a Shia militia actively engaging in ethnic cleansing.

Let us pray that there are more Fallons than Petraeus in the Pentagon.

Sorry if this is old news, but Rosh Hashana has gotten me a bit behind.

^*This show had what had to be the most unintentionally sexual line on TV of the day, at least until Batman's gay innuendo, "Gee Ward, weren't you a bit hard on the Beaver last night?”

^†It should be noted that the actor who played him, went on to become a police officer, and was shot in the line of duty, forcing his retirement from the force, so he was nothing like Eddie.