The Oklahoman Attacks Obama

Ed Kelley's snotty editorial published on the Friday Obama made his trip to the Middle East, made the same old tired tropes we have been hearing for years:

TRY to imagine the conversation between Gen. David Petraeus, U.S. ground commander in Iraq, and Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama when they meet in Baghdad this summer.

Obama plans some fact finding when he visits the combat zone. Why bother? This week Obama said he'll withdraw U.S. troops within 16 months, apparently with little regard for conditions on the ground or Petraeus' best military judgment. The puzzling sequence has a "Ready, fire, aim” quality to it.

Ed Kelley seems to be of the opinion that military commanders set policy in America, and Presidents or candidates are merely allowed to squabble over tactics. Even if the duly elected leader of Iraq agrees with the Obama "time horizon", a condition where John McCain said "we would have to leave," Ed Kelley Insists on calling this a "retreat from Iraq." Even the Pentagon is looking hard at the changing priorities between Iraq and Afghanistan.

But the Ed Kelley's of the world are stuck with cheer leading a colossal mistake. Admitting this error would show their complicity in the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people.