Hey Secretary Gates, Admiral Mullen, General Petraeus! Isn't General Odierno Right?

Note to Secretary Gates, General Petraeus, and Admiral Mullen:

Our refusal to see the big war that we are actually fighting is making your commanders in the field very nervous. In another one of those little stories that appear just once and then vanish into the pit of Newspeak, General Odierno pointed out that the Iranians are still after our guys in Iraq, and we are making things easier for them.

The U.S. military is beefing up security around its bases in Iraq in anticipation of Iranian-backed militants looking to score propaganda points by attacking American soldiers leaving the country, the U.S. commander said Tuesday.

Gen. Ray Odierno said the Iranian threat to U.S. forces has increased as Tehran looks to boost its political and economic influence in Iraq in the face of a decreasing U.S. military presence.

Well of course they are. And they are doing the same thing in Afghanistan. And Somalia. And they are going to keep it up until something, or someone, makes them stop. There’s not much doubt about what they’re doing; just listen to Gen. Odierno:

the people that are getting ready to conduct this attack went back, got special training in Iran, they came back (to Iraq), and we knew that there were experts sent from Iran into Iraq to help them to do this in the last month or so…

Let’s put it in simple language: the Iranians are doing everything they can to kill Americans. These are your soldiers and our children, and while the politicians and journalists rarely mention this unpleasant fact, your sworn duty is to defend them, and to strike at our enemies. Your commander in Iraq is obviously trying to get somebody’s attention back here in Washington.

Are you not obliged to underline the seriousness of his words and design a strategy to win the real war, the big war, in which Iran is the central enemy? The regime in Iran is wobbly, the ranks of the opposition are swelling, and yet our government — which has been so eager to talk to the tyrants and killers inTehran– has yet to talk to the leaders of the opposition.  Are you not obliged to make this case to your political commanders?

Perhaps you have.  If so, and we don’t know about it, it’s just about the only thing in town that hasn’t been leaked…you’re going to have to win on that battlefield, too.