"LION 6 OUT"

EXIT SHREK.

Change of command occurred today in Iraq, as General Ray Odierno's hulking frame made its final appearance at the helm of U.S. Forces-Iraq, Odierno being the "bigger half"' of the imaginative team genius behind the Surge. After four years, of which only about six months were spent at home, Big Ray is heading home to take up what General Petraeus (when called upon to save Obama's tail in Afghanistan) recently called "living like Air Force." Heh heh.

Odierno speaks at about minute 40. Check it out.

Jumpin' Joe Biden was there, and made a speech too [starts at minute 12] -- longer than either the outgoing or incoming Generals' speeches but, for better or for worse, Biden conducted himself with the requisite dignity that the office demands, made a pretty good speech, and proved himself a much bigger man than the President he serves. He recounted the phases of the Iraq war, and praised the efforts of those who participated in it -- after all, this wasn't the place for him to make honest confession of how he and his fellow Democrats had done everything in their power to frustrate and foul up those efforts, to trash military accomplishments, and to slander both the troops and their Commander-in-Chief.

He gave all kinds of credit to the right people for things he had said were wrong at the time -- to as many people in as many offices as he could think of except the obvious one. President Bush was mentioned only twice, both times in relation to commitments he had made to hand over power and withdraw troops.

However, Mr. Bush got lots of back-door kudos in the catalogue of military and civilians now serving in Iraq and Afghanistan who were first selected for service under the Bush administration. So "W" must have known what he was doing sometimes! Huh? Huh?

Footnote: Mr. Biden was on display for 17 minutes showing that he has perfected his boss's rather oily tennis-match head-bobbing as he speaks from right teleprompter to left teleprompter (though he did flub and fluff a few times).

Contrast that with the General Shrek, who spoke for 16 working from paper notes on the podium in front of him, and didn't lose a beat in terms of maintaining contact with his audience. I'm just sayin'.


The Friendly Giant says:
"Look up --
wa-a-a-a-a-y up."

[Little Canadian in-joke there. >>>>]