Iraq - Bush advised to try coitus interruptus - retired soldiers demand "withdrawal"

Daily Kos reports that Gen. David Petraeus may be popular with members of the U.S. Congress but his superior, Admiral William Fallon, chief of the Central Command (CENTCOM), described Petraeus as a sycophant when they first met Baghdad last March.

Fallon apparently told Petraeus that he considered him to be "an ass-kissing little chickenshit" and added, "I hate people like that" .. remarks that followed petraues tryin g to ingratiate himself a superior.

What Petraues did do was serve as front man for the George W. Bush administration's effort to sell its policy of increasing U.S. troop strength in Iraq to Congress.

Petraeus was installed in the office of Republican Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, in early February just before the Senate debated Bush's troop increase.Senators were then approached on the floor and invited to go McConnell's office to hear Petraeus make the case for the surge policy.Which he did. They made him C in C as a result. - then they asked him if he had done a good job.

On top of this these people from the remarkably named Council for a Livable World
...

Senator Gary Hart, Chairman, Council for a Livable World
Lt. Gen. Robert Gard (USA, ret.), Board Member, Center for Arms Control & Non-Proliferation
Brig. Gen. John Johns (USA, ret.), Board Member, Council for a Livable World

Signed off an a statement demanding withdrawal...

"So far, the Iraq war has not served a single major U.S. foreign policy interest. The weapons of mass destruction we invaded Iraq to eliminate turned out not to exist; and while U.S. forces have been tied down in Iraq, Iran resumed enrichment of uranium and North Korea withdrew from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and detonated a plutonium device. Far from spreading democracy to the Middle East, the Iraq war has strengthened the Middle East's authoritarian regimes.

Because of Iraq, both through the flawed case for war and the bungled management of the post-war environment, American prestige and credibility in the world are at their lowest points in decades. Among the many consequences is the reluctance of other countries to credit American assertions about Iran's nuclear program or to join in effective collective action. Our invasion and continuing occupation of Iraq has undermined our moral legitimacy, undercutting our goal to marginalize and isolate Al Qaeda from its recruitment and support base."

The complete statement is available here.