Photo: Lt. Gen. Douglas E. Lute (Wikipedia)In the continuing discussion about civil-military affairs in the government, I had meant to highlight LTG Douglas Lute's performance in the past Obama AfPak strategy review. Lute, as you might recall, was plucked from the Joint Staff operations role to be Pres. Bush's advisor on Iraq and Afghanistan in 2007. He keeps a pretty low profile, but every now and then you'll see his name in the paper. He also made Woodward's book for standing up against ADM Mullen and SecDef Gates.
In late November, as the president made the decision to escalate the U.S. commitment to the war, Lute warned him that the approach was unlikely to succeed.
"Mr. President, you don't have to do this," Woodward quotes Lute as saying.
The Army general maintained that the Taliban's ability to exploit Pakistani safe havens, the persistent corruption within the Afghan government and the poor state of the Afghan security forces made it unlikely that the surge of forces would produce major changes in Afghanistan by July 2011.
Lute's strident questioning of the military's preferred strategy drew a stern rebuke from Adm. Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the military's top officer.
"The secretary and I believe you weren't always helpful in the course of the review," Mullen is quoted as telling Lute.
"I hope the president doesn't have the same view," Lute responded.
Read more ....Update: More Praise for Lute -- Armchair Generalist
My Comment: I have done a few posts on General Lute in the past. These posts give an interesting historical perspective on why we are where we are today. In chronological order .... read here, here, here, and here.