In what is probably the worse case of violating the Chain of Command Retire Gen. Jack Keane was playing a game with Bush, Cheney, the Joint Chiefs, and Petraeus himself. Remember that Petraeus learned at Keanes feet. Remember also how many times you have seen Gen Jack on Fox, CNN, and the other networks as a "advisor". The man was burning the candle not only from both end but from the middle out. This book should ruin the careers of many a soldier.
By the late summer of 2007, Keane had established an unusual back-channel relationship with the president and vice president, a kind of shadow general advising them on the Iraq war. This September visit was the fifth back-channel briefing that Keane had given the vice president that year.Unaccountable
It only gets worse on the flip. What you will read is a story backstabbing, a Retired Gen. pulling strings, and Bush ignoring the Joint Chiefs secretly.
Pres. Bush has always told the Public he would follow the Joints Chiefs advice, instead he went completely around them and gave orders that were the total opposite. This is a 5 pg long article and I can't cut and paste enough here to do it justuce, you will need to read the whole thing. Much of the real dirt is on the last couple pages.
The senior military leadership in Washington, though unaware of the extent of Keane's role, was uncomfortable with his frequent visits to Iraq and his influence at the White House...
But the leadership knew enough to think something was wrong with this setup. Gen. Casey warned Keane as such and more but Keane ignored Gen. Caseys advice.
"Has the chairman called you yet?"
"No, why?" Keane asked.
"Because we feel -- the chiefs feel -- that you are way too out in front advocating a policy for which you're not accountable. We're accountable. You're not accountable, Jack. And that's a problem."
Keane said he had taken action as a member of the secretary of defense's policy board, whose members were supposed to offer their independent advice. All he was trying to do was help Petraeus, he said. "I supported this strategy for three years when a lot of other guys didn't," Keane said, referring to Casey's strategy to build up the Iraqi security forces in hopes of a speedier withdrawal of U.S. troops. "And at some point, I no longer could support it. I'm not operating as some kind of Lone Ranger."
ad_icon
"It's not appropriate for a retired general to be so far forward advocating a policy that he is not responsible or accountable for," Casey said again.
Gen Mullen eventually told Keane to stay out of Iraq and the whole thing but again Keane went behind his back. This is one of those part you will need to read for yourself to get the full impact of what went down. I'm going to close with the quote that jumped up and smacked me between the eyes and provoked my title. It should be clear enough that I won't need to lay it out for anyone.
On April 7, 2008, Gates invited Keane to brief him at the Pentagon.
"Assign Petraeus to CentCom," Keane urged. Delay the assignment until the fall. Make Odierno the new Iraq commander. Odierno was an unsung hero with intellect and moral courage, Keane said.
"Let's be frank about what's happening here," Keane told Gates. "We are going to have a new administration. Do we want these policies continued or not? Do we want the best guys in there who were involved in these policies, who were advocates for them? Let's assume we have a Democratic administration and they want to pull this thing out quickly, and now they have to deal with General Petraeus and General Odierno. There will be a price to be paid to override them."
I forgot to mention that just Monday Bush announced he would not be cutting the Troop any more this yr. So he has left it to Obama to fight it out with Gen Odiero and Patreaus. That will be a bloody and public partisan fight with repercussion that will be years long. Obama has said no prosecutions until his second term. He might want to rethink that and try everyone while he has the chance.