They Don’t Have Ham Sandwiches in the Muslim World, or Petraeus is Nothing More Than an Easy Out

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Last week, the American Prospect‘s Spencer Ackerman wrote that Iraq is a waste of General David Petraeus’ time and expertise and that we should send him to Afghanistan where his expertise will not be lost on “cauterizing a wound” and “population protection.” In fact, he makes this analogy:

“This is like hiring Spanish avant-garde chef Ferran Adria to whip up a ham sandwich.”

I do think “God is unfair” to Petraeus, to use Ackerman’s words, but I think unfair, moreso, for the following reason: Petraeus has been set up. Last week, following his confirmation hearing in front of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Senator Mitch McConnell (R-KY) made it clear that it is a setup indeed. “If it can’t be done under General Petraeus, then it cannot be done at all.”

Oh, I get it, so if we fail in Iraq it will no longer be the fault of the Bush administration’s years of incompetence before, during and after the war (all of which is thoroughly documented in the Mother Jones timeline). This is the same criticism that has been made about Bush’s escalation of troops, that the administration can claim, “we sent 20,000 troops, what more can we do?” Now, they have an even better scapegoat — the most revered General in the United States Army. That seems fair. “Look, if Petraeus couldn’t do it, there was nothing more that possibly could have been done,” they’ll say, as they wipe their hands clean. What is even more infuriating is that maybe it can be done, maybe Petraeus’ insurgency doctrine has all the answers or he has several other tricks up his sleeve. But if the administration’s past actions have been any indication of how well they support their military leaders in Iraq, it doesn’t matter what the doctrine looks like, Petraeus won’t be given the resources or the freedom to show us how talented he really is. Not to mention that it really is way too late for a Hail Mary.

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THE FACTS SPEAK FOR THEMSELVES.

At least we hope they will, because that’s our approach to raising the $350,000 in online donations we need right now—during our high-stakes December fundraising push.

It’s the most important month of the year for our fundraising, with upward of 15 percent of our annual online total coming in during the final week—and there’s a lot to say about why Mother Jones’ journalism, and thus hitting that big number, matters tremendously right now.

But you told us fundraising is annoying—with the gimmicks, overwrought tone, manipulative language, and sheer volume of urgent URGENT URGENT!!! content we’re all bombarded with. It sure can be.

So we’re going to try making this as un-annoying as possible. In “Let the Facts Speak for Themselves” we give it our best shot, answering three questions that most any fundraising should try to speak to: Why us, why now, why does it matter?

The upshot? Mother Jones does journalism you don’t find elsewhere: in-depth, time-intensive, ahead-of-the-curve reporting on underreported beats. We operate on razor-thin margins in an unfathomably hard news business, and can’t afford to come up short on these online goals. And given everything, reporting like ours is vital right now.

If you can afford to part with a few bucks, please support the reporting you get from Mother Jones with a much-needed year-end donation. And please do it now, while you’re thinking about it—with fewer people paying attention to the news like you are, we need everyone with us to get there.

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