“If the president approves the McChrystal plan he will implicitly: * Anoint counterinsurgency — protracted campaigns of armed nation-building — as the new American way of war. * Embrace George W. Bush’s concept of open-ended war as the essential response to violent jihadism (even if the Obama White House has jettisoned the label ‘global war on terror’). * Affirm that military might will remain the principal instrument for exercising American global leadership, as has been the case for decades. Implementing the McChrystal plan will perpetuate the longstanding fundamentals of US national security policy: maintaining a global military presence, configuring US forces for global power projection, and employing those forces to intervene on a global basis.” [editor’s note: Still think his “policy” (though mostly not yet implemented) makes him “peace prize” worthy? - SAT] (10/11/09)