Check out this very interesting interview with the Syrian ambassador Imad Moustapha at Foreign Policy magazine.

He says clearly that the US raid into Syria was a "criminal, terrorist act", that it was done for reasons of US politics, that it blind-sided State who he had been negotiating with...and that Joe Lieberman personally assured him that McCain will negotiate with Syria if he wins.

Foreign Policy: The United States claims its Sunday night raid was undertaken to stem the flow of militants into Iraq. Why do you think this raid happened?

Imad Moustapha: Do we know why? Of course not. The only analysis we have is that they are doing this for pure domestic political reasons that have everything to do with the elections and the electoral campaign. They want to come out with a story.

But we are still waiting for the U.S. administration to come out and tell the American people: “We killed [Abu Ghadiya], and here is the proof that we killed him.” We have presented our side of the story. We have published the photos of the eight people that were killed, their names, and what they were doing. This is our side of the story. Let the United States come with its side.

... Suddenly, after everybody has recognized that the situation has improved dramatically in Iraq, [the United States] comes and they attack a village in Syria. They coldbloodedly murder eight Syrian civilians, villagers who are totally defenseless, totally innocent. This is a terrorist, criminal act.

The implication here is that the Bush administration wanted to boost McCain's standing in the poills with a little shock and awe and, since Iraq just doesn't provide the requisite level of fearmongering any more and attacking Iran would be too big a can of worms to open, they decided to launch a raid into the weaker neighbour.

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While the presidential candidates try to outdo each other on hawkishness on their Afghanistan/Pakistan policies and violence rises even further, the military seem to be the ones really running U.S. foreign policy in the region. And they're looking for a Grand Bargain.

This week's Sixty Minutes has eye-opening footage from a forward operating base in eastern Afghanistan, which includes up-close combat with Taliban militants.

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The footage underscores what a recent draft of a National Intelligence Estimate called Afghanistan's "downward spiral", with a 30 percent increase in attacks in the last year.

These soldiers had not come this close to their enemy in Afghanistan before - close enough to lob hand grenades. Staff Sgt. Jake Schlereth had to crawl into a cornfield in pursuit. "You couldn't see [the enemy]…and…I had to get down on the ground and look and see if they were down there…you knew they were in there," he tells Logan.

At least twelve enemy fighters were killed in the skirmish and one U.S. soldier was wounded. The soldiers found a camera left behind by the enemy that contained images of at least 50 heavily armed fighters, showing details of their training and actual attacks. But it also showed enemy surveillance of U.S. soldiers on patrol. Says Capt. Thomas Kilbride, who leads such patrols, "This is showing a [U.S.] unit driving. I don't know if this is us or not." Does he think he and his men are being watched every time they go on patrol? "Oh, yeah," he says.

The images on the camera prove the enemy is better armed and organized. One of the men killed was carrying an identification card issued across the border in Pakistan. The U.S. military plans more fighting ahead in the winter months, when violence is usually less. "I'm here to predict this winter will be the most violent winter so far," says Gen. Schlosser.

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There's little doubt that General David Petraeus is a smart cookie whatever you think about his political loyalties, and quite a few people I respect highly as foreign policy reporters and analysts have good opinions of his military abilities. But when did a four star general get handed the authority to act as if he were Secretary of State?

The WaPo reports that:

Gen. David H. Petraeus has launched a major reassessment of U.S. strategy for Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran, Iraq and the surrounding region, while warning that the lack of development and the spiraling violence in Afghanistan will probably make it "the longest campaign of the long war."

The 100-day assessment will result in a new campaign plan for the Middle East and Central Asia, a region in which Petraeus will oversee the operations of more than 200,000 American troops as the new head of U.S. Central Command, beginning Oct. 31.

The review will formally begin next month, but experts and military officials involved said Petraeus is already focused on at least two major themes: government-led reconciliation of Taliban insurgents in Afghanistan and Pakistan, and the leveraging of diplomatic and economic initiatives with nearby countries that are influential in the war. [Emphasis Mine - C]

All of this seems like a good idea to me. But, crucially, neither of those themes are military ones and the military shouldn't be leading the way on them. It's about seperation of power and having the military subordinate to civilian policymakers rather than the other way around.

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During Petraeus' testimony today he got a little interruption when a protester started yelling "bring them home":

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It's nice to still get this message out there, especially to the deaf ears of D.C.

This is insane. Whenever you confront authoritarian, conservative hacks---they always lash out because they can't stand anyone questioning their "authority!" The military and the Bush administration have been using the right wing blogs and their radio/TV pundits to funnel their propaganda for a long time now and the TNR saga is just another example of it. Check out this exchange between Public Affairs Officer Col. Boylan and Glenn Greenwald.

The subject line of the email -- which I am publishing in full, unedited form here -- is "The growing link between the U.S. military and right-wing media and blogs," which is the title of the post I wrote earlier this week regarding the politicization of the Army in Iraq, as evidenced by its constant coordination with, and leaking to, the likes of Matt Drudge, The Weekly Standard, and the most extremist right-wing blogs -- in the TNR/Beauchamp case and also more generally....read on

The military leadership in this instance is acting very---biased---as Cole points out.

Compare the almost matter-of-fact responses that right-wing PR bots like the Confederate Yankee get, and the taunting and juvenile tone Boylan uses when addressing Greenwald...

I've been writing a lot about the propaganda the military has been using to try unsuccessfully to promote the Iraq war to the American people. We need to thank Dan Froomkin bunches for his fine work also...And then there's the fine documentary called: "War Made Easy," that spells it out for us too....

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The general the right wing insists must be above politics is still touting White House talking points with little to no back up, but insisting on its veracity.  Apparently, the Bush administration has not only not learned the lessons of Vietnam, but they haven't learned the lessons of Iraq either, because those war drums are even louder, with Gen. Petraeus setting the beat.

Let's be very clear. There is no debate, that the individuals who we have detained, are Quds force members, and the individual detained in Northern Iraq. Let's be very clear about this. We have absolute assurance, of who he is, what he has done in the past, what he has provided in terms of accelerants, what his position is, in the Quds force. Again, these are not in question.
[..]
The Quds force controls the policy for Iraq, there should be no confusion about that either. The ambassador is a Quds force member. Now he has diplomatic immunity and therefore he is, obviously, not subject...and he is acting as a diplomat.

Why is there no debate, General?  Could it be that the Bush administration won't allow it?  The Quds force of which he speaks are the "Special Forces" of the Revolutionary Guard..warning bells going off yet?  Capitalizing on the fact that few Americans bother to learn the difference between Shi'a and Sunni forces (Iranians are Shi'a and supportive of the newly established Iraqi government.  The civil war is being fought against the Sunnis, who are being supported and armed by Saudi Arabia, not that Bush or Petraeus would ever admit to it) or who we're supporting, General Petraeus intimates smears against the Iranian ambassador and dismisses any discussion of the Iranian detainees we have and why.  Note that the EFP used in the video claimed to be provided by these Qud forces has western (not Persian or Arabic) lettering.  But they have absolute assurance...

Deja vu, all over again...