Speaking Of Our Tired, Overcommitted Military

Drezner - in for Sullivan - has this piece on the 101st Airborne's evolving mission in Northern Iraq.

It quotes a NYTimes piece that should give the likes of Howard Dean and Wesley Clark pause:

military commanders here expressed frustration that most international aid organizations have not returned in force since the bombing of the United Nations headquarters in Baghdad last summer.

"The N.G.O.'s have been a disappointment," said Maj. Gen. David H. Petraeus, commander of the 101st Division, speaking of nongovernmental organizations. "Don't get me wrong, the truck bomb at the U.N. headquarters was horrific. But they seemed as if they were very, very quick to bail out of here, compared to the risks they have run in a variety of other missions."

In other words, the organization that Dean and Clark would give rights of "first refusal" over our foreign policy - refuse to run one themselves?

Read both pieces - both are interesting.

Posted by Mitch at December 31, 2003 07:33 AM