It’s startling to be reminded how long ago 9/11 was because our public figures keep talking about the Afghanistan War like it started last year. General Petraeus let us know back in February in a Meet the Press interview that we were just then getting “the inputs about right,” and were now “starting to see some of the outputs.” Nine years into this war, and Petraeus lets us know they’re just getting warmed up. Good God.

If President Obama is too weak to preserve our civilian-military order, then Congress is obligated to enforce its constitutional authority over the power of war.

In a break from Andrew Card’s 2002 strategy that “you don’t introduce new products in August”, General David Petraeus has kicked off an intensive media blitz today with the express purpose of turning public opinion in favor of a delayed troop withdrawal from Afghanistan rather than an accelerated withdrawal beginning in July 2011.

After the deadliest month ever for US troops in Afghanistan, panic over this failed war continues to spread to new areas. Panic had appeared to reach a peak when Stanley McChrystal was replaced as head of ISAF and head of US Forces in Afghanistan. However, the situation continues to spiral out of control under the new leadership of David Petraeus. Dominating today’s headlines are peaceful anti-American protests in Kabul following the riot precipitated by four civilian deaths in a traffic accident involving US contractors on Friday, the departure of the Netherlands from the shrinking NATO coalition and fears on the part of Senator Lindsey Graham that an “unholy alliance” between liberal Democrats and conservative Republicans could undermine the remaining small amount of support that remains for the war.

Matt Taibbi of Rolling Stone blasts CBS’s foreign correspondent Lara Logan for criticizing Michael Hastings for reporting on General McChrystal’s truth telling on the sucky war in Afghanistan. Doesn’t Hastings know he’s supposed to play along and support the troops and keep quiet?

During the July 4th celebrations peak your attention. Patriotism will almost exclusively=Military Might. You will see flags coupled with soldiers, arms and awesome aerial displays. Please contact me if you see the flag wed to social workers, teachers, nurses, or peace activists.

President Obama’s Afghanistan strategy isn’t working. So said a parade of Afghanistan watchers during the flap over war commander General Stanley McChrystal’s firing. But what does that phrase, so often in the media these days, really mean? And if the strategy really isn’t working, just how can you tell?

Speaker Nancy Pelosi has told the Huffington Post she expects a “serious drawdown” of U.S. troops from Afghanistan in the summer of 2011. The House Rules Committee has now approved an amendment for consideration on the war supplemental that will allow Speaker Pelosi to “put her money where her mouth is.”

With the issuing of a special inspector general report on Afghanistan reconstruction that finds US forces have consistently overstated achievements on training of Afghan forces, General David Petraeus will have more attention placed on future claims of training accomplishments.

David Petraeus’s didn’t put much stock in the president’s intention to hold the military command accountable for its failure in Afghanistan—and that earned him an instant rebuke from the White House. Now, that same Petraeus is in charge.