On Trusting the Generals

In his 1,000 days as President, John F. Kennedy learned not to trust the generals, who were repeatedly ready to push America beyond where Kennedy thought it safe to go. But DePauw's Ken Bode says President George W. Bush seems to have learned the opposite lesson from an Iraq war that has now gone on for twice the length of the entire Kennedy presidency. Bode says that's why we are witnessing a public relations surge by the Pentagon that is timed to coincide with Gen. David Petraeus' Sept. 15 report and designed to persuade The Decider to extend the Iraq war once again.