De Gaulle Was Right

Not surprisingly, George Will and I remembered the same Gaullist wisdom: The graveyards are full of indispensable men.

Unlike everyone else, apparently, I am unrelieved by Petraeus' relief of McChrystal and of the president. Petraeus himself is now close to becoming the indispensable man, having now saved two presidencies. The only soldiers who compare in importance both militarily and politically relative to an ongoing war (and now both wars are Petraeus' more than Obama's) are Grant, Pershing, Eisenhower, MacArthur, and Westmoreland, and the only soldier who exceeds him is Washington. This is uncomfortable and familiar territory.