This guy's a general?

Lt. General William E. Odom (retired, of course), a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute and professor at Yale University, and director of the National Security Agency from 1985 to 988, pens an article headed "Cut and Run? You bet!"

Perhaps the most offensive part of it is his assertion:

A rapid reversal of our present course in Iraq would improve U.S. credibility around the world. The same argument was made against withdrawal from Vietnam. It was proved wrong then and it would be proved wrong today. Since Sept. 11, 2001, the world’s opinion of the United States has plummeted, with the largest short-term drop in American history.

This is a deeply dishonest argument. The point is credibility, mere popularity or respect. Those are largely determined by media coverage. Credibility means that when you give your word, people can rely on it. Our loss of credibility is what lead bin Laden to believe that we're a paper tiger. It got us 9/11. For a supposed intellectual to miss that is shameful and stupid.