Hope and Despair

I was going to write a snarky, skeptical post about all the staff changes the president has made to his war team these last few days -- you know, bring in the yes men blah blah blah -- but I stopped by Informed Comment on my way to Blogger and found a hopeful Juan Cole, so I will be hopeful too. Professor, the floor is yours:

I'm stricken with a case of the "what ifs" and "if onlys"! What if Gates had been at the Pentagon in 2003 and Petraeus had been in charge of the US military in Iraq and Crocker had been there instead of Paul Bremer? These are competent professionals who know what they are doing. Gates is clear-sighted enough to tell Congress that the US is not winning in Iraq, unlike his smooth-talking, arrogant and flighty predecessor. Petraeus is among the real experts on counter-insurgency, and did a fine job of making friends and mending fences when he was in charge of Mosul. Crocker has been ambassador to Kuwait, Syria, Lebanon and Pakistan, and knows the region intimately (as does Khalilzad). Bremer had been ambassador to . . . Holland. Despite all the talk of the resurgence of the Neoconservatives with their "surge" (actually ramped up occupation) plan, this team is the farthest from Neoconservative desires that you could possibly get.

The "farthest from Neoconservative desires" is a good place to start, so I will hold my skepticism back until tomorrow 10:15 AM, see update below.

Also today, in keeping with the hopeful theme, the Independent [UK] has a front page piece by Ali Allawi, the former Iraqi Defense Minister, who lays out his plan for peace in Iraq. I'm not knowledgeable enough to comment substantively (on the plan or on Allawi), but it sounds reasonable enough and is worth a read.

Finally this morning, if the bright side is not your thing, then feel free to head on over to the New York Times where they publish a graphic look at the death and destruction in Iraq. Hopefully there are enough legitimate sources cited by the NYT to keep the Wingnut side of the blogosphere from claiming they made the entire story, and the entire war, up.

Update: My hope is fading fast -- who was I kidding anyway. Think Progress points us to this line from the NYT regarding the new general in charge of Iraq, and it looks like the same ol' neocon dance.

Admiral Fallon is regarded within the military as one of its stronger regional combat commanders, and his possible appointment also reflects a greater emphasis on countering Iranian power, a mission that relies heavily on naval forces and combat airpower to project American influence in the Persian Gulf. [emphasis me]