Crocker: Petraeus' task is similar to the one faced by two top Americans in Vietnam when the decisions that led to the US withdrawal there were made

Greg Djerejian writes "...But here's the dirty little secret. The nation lacks a top diplomat with the requisite skill and standing to implement the "diplomatic offensive" called for by the ISG, including variants as per Chuck Hagel's recent piece in the FT. While we have a pretty strong team with Gates and Petraeus at DoD, we lack players of the requisite caliber at State and the NSC. So while the security situation in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Lebanon, and Gaza worsens, while a refugee crisis builds in Syria, while Jordan and Saudi get ever more skittish, while Iran gets more lebensraum in Iraq, and while the Maliki government continues to fail in getting essential compromises hammered out among the Iraqi factions, Condi Rice is giving interviews such as this one. "