But I will be entitling all subsequent diaries on all subjects: "Breasts". It's not important that you know why. It's important that my psychiatrist knows why.
The accusation has been put to me: "You are 'Swiftboating' General David Petraeus." This is patently untrue, but I must now answer, because the waters will be muddied, spin will fill the air and John Kerry's name will inevitably be dragged in again. But despite - even because of - the endless controversy, the case of young Lieutenant John Forbes Kerry will simplify this question.
Therefore: What is "Swiftboating" and what is not? A Simple Explanation:
I have never called into question ANY accomplishment General Petraeus has achieved on the battlefield.
Not a single one.
General Petraeus is clearly entitled to a medal for meritorious service for his service in Iraq.
But valor does not happen everywhere on the battlefield. It cannot. It happens with real actions, not in intent or the imagination. It is done where blood is being spilled. General Petraeus has made an extraordinary claim. He has claimed that "Valor" - a claim of honor - may be redefined for his convenience.
General Petraeus' medal insists that he was in a situation he was not, doing a thing he did not do, simply because he says so.
A Marine Corps sniper who retains his lethal calm and precision while bullets fly past him so that he can personally shoot another human being a mile away with his rifle; a young Corporal who continues to show calm, operational awareness, and esprit de corp despite having been torn to shreds by an RPG; Navy corpsmen who dash unflinchingly into the path of bullets, RPGs and mines to treat Marines who have been shot and torn to shreds - these people demonstrate the qualities of valor in the extreme. They have personally risked and/or personally caused blood to be shed with conspicuous heroism.
I am not a Kerry defender. I dislike John Kerry as a politician. I also know that Lieutenant John Kerry was a very junior officer who fired his weapon of necessity, killed enemy combatants with his weapon, commanded his small unit while firing and under fire and sailors were killed and injured around him, grabbed a guy out of the water with a bloody arm and was on a small craft which took direct enemy fire, injuring himself and comrades a few feet away, however badly. These facts are not disputed BY ANYONE. His is a story of combat valor. How much valor, I would never presume to say. That is to be judged by those who have fired the weapons / had the weapons fired at them. But it is plain that Lieutenant John Forbes Kerry showed valor, and to call that into question is to "Swiftboat".
General Petraeus was a senior officer who did not fire his weapon of necessity, did not kill enemy combatants by his own action, commanded a huge unit through a chain of command, had bodyguards, had nobody killed in his immediate vicinity, and took fire only in the vaguest sense. His is a story of meritorious conduct - not combat valor.
The "V device" on a Bronze Star exists exactly to distinguish between those who have personally caused the enemy to bleed and die, personally accepted mortal peril at the hands of the enemy - bet their blood and bone and acted bravely - and those who have not. To suggest that General Petraeus did NOT act with combat valor is to point out that unlike young Junior Lieutenant Kerry, 54-year-old Major General Petraeus did not - quite understandably and quite reasonably - participate in combat that way. Major General David Petraeus simply did not have the opportunity to show combat valor. Neither did General Eisenhower.
Per this article:
Pentagon review has found that the Army has used the V device to recognize a single valorous act in combat, said Bill Carr, Department of Defense undersecretary for military personnel policy.
I put it to him and all of you that there simply was no "single valorous act in combat". I'm not judging the General's performance in what he DID do, I'm just telling you that it's as plain as day what he DIDN'T do.
Finally, it must be said that not only has General Petraeus NOT pulled a single comrade to safety while the bullets were flying - with or without a bloody arm. Petraeus has sent soldiers to their deaths. He plans to send more to their deaths. And he plans to do so with lies fired by the Administration, while lying, and with lies surrounding him. If lies were bullets and grenades, Petraeus would be well-entitled to his "V for Valor".
But they are not, and therefore this map reader deserves an "M for Mendacious", an "A for Ambitious" and a "P for Pathetic".