I Am Still Haunted by the Fact that I Didn’t Warn You. Oh, Right ….

American insiders in Baghdad say the relationship between the top U.S. commander there, Gen. Raymond Odierno, and the top civilian official there, Amb. Christopher Hill, is deteriorating rapidly. Old hands say the chill between the two brings to the bad old days of Sanchez vs. Bremer, when those two unfortunates barely would speak to each other as the American position fell apart in early 2004, along with Iraq itself.

What I am hearing is that Odierno is profoundly frustrated with Hill, who despite knowing almost nothing about Iraq has decided after a short time there that it is time to stand back and stop influencing the behavior of Iraqi officials on a daily basis. In addition, I am told, the ambassador believes the war is an Iraqi problem, not something that really concerns Americans anymore, despite the presence of 125,000 American soldiers. [Tom Ricks, Foreign Policy Blog]

But hey, who is this Odierno guy, besides being Petraeus’s right hand in making The Surge work and doing what no one in Hill’s world thought could be done? Hill’s record, on the other hand, speaks for itself. Don’t miss the comment by Joel Wit.

Hat tip: SRS.