Neocon Kagans were top Patreus advisors in Afghanistan.

[hedda_foil]

I can't believe there aren't several threads on this huge WaPo story today. The neocons rolled Obama on Afghanistan and controlled Petraeus’s thinking.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/civilian-analysts-gained-petraeuss-ear-while-he-was-commander-in-afghanistan/2012/12/18/290c0b50-446a-11e2-8061-253bccfc7532_story.html?wpisrc=nl_headlines

By Rajiv Chandrasekaran, Published: December 18

Frederick and Kimberly Kagan, a husband-and-wife team of hawkish military analysts, put their jobs at influential Washington think tanks on hold for almost a year to work for Gen. David H. Petraeus when he was the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan. Provided desks, e-mail accounts and top-level security clearances in Kabul, they pored through classified intelligence reports, participated in senior-level strategy sessions and probed the assessments of field officers in order to advise Petraeus about how to fight the war differently.

Their compensation from the U.S. government for their efforts, which often involved 18-hour workdays, seven days a week and dangerous battlefield visits? Zero dollars.

Although Fred Kagan said he and his wife wanted no pay in part to remain “completely independent,” the extraordinary arrangement raises new questions about the access and influence Petraeus accorded to civilian friends while he was running the Afghan war.

Petraeus allowed his biographer-turned-paramour, Paula Broadwell, to read sensitive documents and accompany him on trips. But the entree granted the Kagans, whose think-tank work has been embraced by Republican politicians, went even further. The four-star general made the Kagans de facto senior advisers, a status that afforded them numerous private meetings in his office, priority travel across the war zone and the ability to read highly secretive transcripts of intercepted Taliban communications, according to current and former senior U.S. military and civilian officials who served in the headquarters at the time.

Snip ... much more.

[hedda_foil]

1. Kicking in hopes.of responses.

[MotherPetrie]

2. Obama should have known Patreus was a snake when he picked him up

If he didn't more fool he.

[Angry Dragon]

3. It seems Petraous has had poor judgement for a long time

[spanone]

4. i heard chris matthews talking about this...unbelievable

petreaus was a fucking traitor

[Hydra]

5. This was another massive fail by President Obama

We were assured by the 3rd way creeps that things would be done differently and smarter than the Bush Era.

There's just one problem- we never LEFT the Bush Era. We just moved some pieces around on the board.

[WinkyDink]

6. Petraeus has one misguided ego.

[Auntie Bush]

7. Thank goodness he is no longer influential...probably not even to Rethugs...I hope!

[Enrique]

8. Obama is a big fan of Robert Kagan

and Robert's wife is our State Department spokesperson.