"... Hamid Karzai is brilliant, well educated, non-violent, a politically astute deal maker ..."

A Gen. Barry McCaffrey 11-page assessment written on behalf of Gen. Petraeus, the full report , here (some of the peals below!)

"... Thankfully, Secretary Gates, Generals Dave Petraeus at CENTCOM and General Stan McChrystal the ISAF Commander (with the deft political-military support of US Admiral Jim Stavridis the NATO Supreme Allied Commander in Europe) have unscrewed this mess,...."

".... Petraeus and McChrystal are the most effective counter-insurgency strategists and counter-terrorist fighters we have produced in nine years of war,....."

"We now have the most effective and courageous military forces in our nation’s history committed to this campaign,..... "

"The superb leadership from Secretary Gates, Admiral Mike Mullen, General Dave Petraeus, and General Stan McChrystal is objective, experienced, non-political, and determined......."

Politico's Laura Rosen comments:

"McCaffrey's lavish praise for the military geniuses contrasts with notable terseness regarding the whole rest of the operation in Afghanistan, though his assessment lists interviews with top US embassy officials in Afghanistan.

Note this point, for instance, in the summary: "The international civilian agency surge will essentially not happen ---although State Department officers, US AID, CIA, DEA, and the FBI will make vital contributions. Afghanistan over the next 2-3 years will be simply too dangerous for most civil agencies."

The State Department, USAID and CIA etc. are providing "vital contributions"? Ouch.

And then also quite peculiarly, McCaffrey seems to do a bit of gushing about Afghanistan's controversially reelected president Hamid Karzai as well, who has been the subject of much handwringing by the Obama administration and the top US civilian leadership on Afghanistan in particular.

"The Afghan nation has an elected President --Hamid Karzai --who is: brilliant, well educated, non-violent, a politically astute deal maker in a nation where murder not compromise is the normal political tool; a man who deeply cares for his people; and who is a personally courageous Afghan patriot who is constantly at risk of assassination," McCaffrey writes. "His popularity with his own people has fallen dramatically as the Taliban have surged to greater power in part because of the ineffectiveness of his government."

When is the last time you heard anyone in the U.S. government describe Karzai as "brilliant"?

What is going on?

And by commissioning such an assessment and having it circulate so widely, what message is Petraeus trying to send?"