re: "Joint Chiefs of Staff Sweepstakes"

James Joyner at Outside the Beltway ("an online journal of politics and foreign affairs analysis") had some thoughts about who should fill this important post.

Money quote(s):

"Both (Petraeus and Stavridis) epitomize the scholar-warrior-diplomat that the military has been touting for a generation as the ideal type."

Subsequent to Mr. Joyner's insightful post, GEN Petraeus was offered, and accepted the directorship of the Central Intelligence Agency.

"The United States has been at war for most of the last two decades. That we launched an operation in Libya whilst still bogged down in two major wars and are ratcheting up rhetoric elsewhere in the region gives me little confidence that we’re about to change.

Further, while it’s certainly possible to be an outstanding strategic leader without having been in harm’s way, the fact of the matter is that the Army and Marine Corps have done the lion’s share of the fighting in these wars. It would be odd, indeed, to disqualify our ground force leaders for the chairmanship because they’ve been off fighting the country’s wars rather than thinking about the wars we might one day fight."