Why is Dick Cheney focusing particularly hard on the opinion of “the commander in the field”?
Alex Koppelman Mar. 24, 2008 | To say it’s important to continue the drawdown, that isn’t the way I think about it. It’s important to achieve victory in Iraq; it’s important to win, to succeed in the objective that we’ve established. The question about what force level that takes is a judgment that’s made based upon the recommendations of the commander in the field. Obviously, we look at the advice, for example, from Ryan Crocker, our ambassador that’s there, as well, too. All of this goes up through the chain of command in the Pentagon. The Joint Chiefs have an opportunity for input and advice. The secretary comes in. All of this goes to the president, the set of recommendations. That’s Vice President Dick Cheney, in an interview with ABC News. I found one of his formulations — “a judgment that’s made based upon the recommendations of the commander in the field” — particularly interesting. It’s by now well known that Gen. David Petraeus, the aforementioned commander in the field, is
