Posted on 09/22/2009 7:47:30 AM PDT by CWW
McChrystal to resign if not given resources for Afghanistan
By Bill RoggioSeptember 21, 2009 4:17 PM
Within 24 hours of the leak of the Afghanistan assessment to The Washington Post, General Stanley McChrystal's team fired its second shot across the bow of the Obama administration. According to McClatchy, military officers close to General McChrystal said he is prepared to resign if he isn't given sufficient resources (read "troops") to implement a change of direction in Afghanistan:
Adding to the frustration, according to officials in Kabul and Washington, are White House and Pentagon directives made over the last six weeks that Army Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the top U.S. military commander in Afghanistan, not submit his request for as many as 45,000 additional troops because the administration isn't ready for it.
In the last two weeks, top administration leaders have suggested that more American troops will be sent to Afghanistan, and then called that suggestion "premature." Earlier this month, Adm. Michael Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said that "time is not on our side"; on Thursday, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates urged the public "to take a deep breath."
...
In Kabul, some members of McChrystal's staff said they don't understand why Obama called Afghanistan a "war of necessity" but still hasn't given them the resources they need to turn things around quickly.
Three officers at the Pentagon and in Kabul told McClatchy that the McChrystal they know would resign before he'd stand behind a faltering policy that he thought would endanger his forces or the strategy.
"Yes, he'll be a good soldier, but he will only go so far," a senior official in Kabul said. "He'll hold his ground. He's not going to bend to political pressure."
On Thursday, Gates danced around the question of when the administration would be ready to receive McChrystal's request, which was completed in late August. "We're working through the process by which we want that submitted," he said.
The entire process followed by the military in implementing a change of course in Afghanistan is far different, and bizarrely so, from the process it followed in changing strategy in Iraq.
For Afghanistan, the process to decide on a course change began in March of this year, when Bruce Reidel was tasked to assess the situation. This produced the much-heralded yet vague "AfPak" assessment. Then, in May, General David McKiernan was fired and replaced by General McChrystal, who took command in June. General McChrystal's assessment hit President Obama's desk at the end of August, almost three months after he took command. And yet now in the last half of September, the decision on additional forces has yet to be submitted to the administration.
Contrast this with Iraq in the fall of 2006. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld was fired just one day after the elections in early November. The Keane-Kagan plan for Iraq was submitted to President Bush shortly afterward, and encompassed both the assessment of the situation and the recommended course of action, including the recommended number of troops to be deployed to deal with the situation. General David Petraeus replaced General George Casey in early February 2007, and hit the ground running; the surge strategy was in place, troops were being mustered to deploy to Iraq, and commanders on the ground were preparing for and executing the new orders. The first of the surge units began to arrive in Iraq only weeks later, in March.
Today, the military is perceiving that the administration is punting the question of a troop increase in Afghanistan, and the military is even questioning the administration's commitment to succeed in Afghanistan. The leaking of the assessment and the report that McChrystal would resign if he is not given what is needed to succeed constitute some very public pushback against the administration's waffling on Afghanistan.
IIRC, GEN McChrystal graduated from West Point in 1976, the same year I graduated from college, and commissioned in the Army from ROTC. If you weren't there, you cannot imagine what the all-volunteer force, in its infancy, was like.
Standards were low, money was tight, and leadership from the Carter Administration was nonexistent. GEN McChrystal no doubt remembers those days, and I pray for him and our servicemen and women under his command.
I did not experience WW II not having been born yet. One uncle was killed in the Navy when the destroyer USS Buck was torpedoed and sank off Salerno. I was an American history major.
Those who major in history must specialize in hindsight. Otherwise, we would be prophets rather than historians.
\ Because DDE was one of the last of the major commanders of WWII when he died, I allowed myself the luxury of a bit of emotion over his passing. Politically, however, he was a nonaggressive sorry mess and a menace within the GOP.
Bereft of soul??? DDE was a West Point educated soldier and then brought his record to the White House. We have a right to expect firm, clear-headed judgment from our generals and from our presidents and not emotional self-indulgence.
Neville Chamberlain wanted to keep Brit lads "safe at home" and allow Great Britain to continue to heal from the trauma WW I. We do not honor Chamberlain. Nor should we.
It damn well should. Obamas ROE already left marines dead on the battlefield for lack of air support.
We'll keep your son in our prayers.
and where are we going with this? if you have a question, please feel free to ask....
Agreed. Just because somebody was an officer in the military doesn’t mean they will be a strong conservative. Without giving too much away let’s just say many of those that typically rise to the top (ie top of their class at the academies) often are of a more liberal mindset.
“Isn’t he the guy that O appointed? He said he could do the job with existing resources.”
That was before the ROE were changed. With the current ROE a million additional troops couldn’t win it.
I need to add that to the timeline — thanks!
It is all pointing in the direction that this Country elected a Muslim Communist.
That’s why I did the timeline of Obama posted earlier. To change the Rules of Engagement on 4 July just made me see red. Muslim speech on 4 June, change Rules of Engagement on 4 July and visit Russia on 6 July.
>.some members of McChrystal’s staff said they don’t understand why Obama called Afghanistan a “war of necessity”
Oh, jeez, guys, he wanted to get elected, and said what he had to. Don’t tell me you steely eyed flinty guys bought his lines (rather well delivered, in a non threatening preacher manner combined with a newage motivational speaker style) too!
How does one order a General to not request reinforcements??
We'd finally get our country back.
Obama has tied McCrystal’s hands in Afghanistan by imposing harsh ROE’s on him, and now O wants to not give McCrystal the troops to do the job.
Yup, its forcing his hand, and causing discussion of the issue, rather than the Pentagon being forced to conduct operations to simply keep things quiet, a holding action, punt it and pray, so to speak.
If the country doesn’t have the will anymore, let’s not squander our treasure, get out, rest up and prepare for the inevitable return.
Rush just reported that Hillary C. (in and interview today) said that Gen McCrystal quote: “Did not know what he was talking about”...!?
Like in Iraq, the Army will do the kinder thing.
At night the SF HunterKiller teams mysteriously disappear bad guys, with the help of newly friendly locals.
Sources: Books, - The Strongest Tribe, The Forever War, The Gamble.
Besides needing more troops, 0b0z0’s ROE’s, (Rules of Engagement) make Jimmy Carter and LBJ look like war hawks!)
Apparently, getting artillery and air support if civilians are possible near to the hot spot is impossible.
So the Taliban abush our warriors from villages, knowing they will not have air or artillery strikes.
Thusly, a racist.
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