I'm barracking the hopeful

I'm quivering with stasis (and optimistic about US military efforts in Afghanistan--check the early links):

Secretary of State: Hillary Clinton
Secretrary of Defense: Robert Gates
National Security Adviser: Marine Gen. (ret'd) James L. Jones
Commander, US Central Command: Gen. David Petraeus (now thinking furiously about Afghanistan).

As The Economist puts it (I wonder what all those Obama-loving Canadian media and opposition politicians think):

Masters of war

Gen. Jones has been Commandant of the Corps and his last military post was as Supreme Allied Commander Europe (NATO's main operational commander) from 2003-2006. That was the period when NATO ISAF expanded out of Kabul to cover the whole of Afghanistan, so useful background there in seeing just how much NATO as an organization can do as the effort in Afghanistan moves forward. Gen. Jones may also be...

Bad News for Hillary

The above senior national security officials are scary if you're a bad guy: al Qaeda, Taliban, or other Jihadis (Mumbai?).

But there is a bone for the president-elect's campaign true believers:

John Brennan withdraws name from consideration as CIA director

Liberal groups opposed Barack Obama's top choice for the job. The move complicates his administration's efforts to have a smooth transition on intelligence matters.

More about the US context (the poor cunning linguist): "But is it really necessary to rub it in? … Yeah, I think so."

Back to Mumbai: Jai Hind (3:57 here)!

Mark C.

Posted by markc at November 27, 2008 06:57 PM