U.S. Military Advisors Told To Keep Remarks Private ["Disarray" in Obama Administration!]

LATimes ^ | October 05th 2009

[Steelfish]

U.S. Military Advisors Told To Keep Remarks Private

Comments by Defense Secretary Robert Gates seem aimed at Gen. Stanley McChrystal, who has been speaking out about the need for more troops in Afghanistan.

By Christi Parsons October 5, 2009

Reporting from Washington - Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said Monday that President Obama's advisors should keep their guidance private, in effect admonishing the top U.S. and allied commander in Afghanistan for publicly advocating a troop-intensive military approach at a time when the White House is considering an overhaul of its strategy.

The comment by Gates came a day after a top White House official, national security advisor James Jones, said military commanders should convey their advice through the chain of command, a sharp reaction to Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal's call in a speech in London last week for a strategy aimed at stabilizing Afghanistan.

The exchanges suggested a certain disarray in the Obama administration attempt to forge a new policy on Afghanistan and underscored the wide differences among top officials over the correct approach after eight years of failed efforts.

The controversy centered on McChrystal, a special forces commander tapped by Obama to take charge of the Afghanistan effort in June to institute a sweeping counterinsurgency strategy. Obama and McChrystal spoke Friday aboard Air Force One on an airport tarmac in Copenhagen, and White House officials did not detail what the two talked about.

[nathanbedford]

Here we see just one more baleful consequence of the last election in which the voters authorized the Democrats stripped away checks and balances.

Because the Republicans have no power in either House, they have lost the control of committees and with it the power of investigation and hearings. If the tables were turned, Republicans' sense of comity, perhaps reinforced by goading from a media wonderfully reinvigorated in its desire to investigate, would provide the minority with some opportunity for hearings. Democrats do not suffer from conscience and are not embarrassed by notions of comity.

All of this is compounded by the race of the president which foreclosed investigation into his biography, or his intimate associations with communists, black liberationists, terrorists and murderers. So we are in a condition today in which neither the media nor the ruling party will part the media curtain even a millimeter to let sunlight in.

If there were committee hearings on this issue, Gen. McChrystal would be under oath and under the protection of a statute which compels him to tell the truth. No doubt his career would be put in jeopardy if he spoke against the administration, but the administration would have to be careful in how it evidenced retribution. The general would be defended by members of the other party who would act as counsel for him to some degree. An important issue like this would probably be televised and so the Democrats, unprotected in the glare of sunlight by the media filter, would be more inclined to behave themselves.

In the absence of a forum, Gen. McChrystal took what I am sure he regarded as a principled stand in his London speech. No one rises to the level he has attained the United States military who is deaf to political realities. He knew damn well what he was doing. He might be absolutely wrong about Afghanistan, but I applaud his courage. He clearly knew he was putting his career on the line which is a hell of a lot more than virtually any Congress critter that one could name would do.

This is one more example of how the United States political system functions as a two-party system and goes way off track when the delicate balance between party discipline and despotism is trespassed upon. There is a lesson here for conservatives who are so quick to say, "the hell with you, I will stay home."

[MestaMachine]

It seems like soooo long ago now, but at the beginning of this, when McChrystal first went over, I posted this:

The Afghan government is beyond corrupt. The people are far more isolated and tribal.
There is NO reason for our Troops to be battling for control of the poppy fields. If anyone was serious about stopping the growing of poppies, airstrikes to destroy the fields would be happening until they were GONE. We would not be sending good Marines in harm’s way under the pretense that we are trying to build an infrastucture for people who DO NOT WANT IT and will revert at the first possible minute.
And if we were serious about destroying Al Qaeda, the zone between Pakistan and Afghanistan would be a damn ditch where anything that moved would be dead within seconds.
Instead, we are propping up the radicals in Pakistan, controlling a corrupt government in Afghanistan, and OUR Troops are the front line.
NATO could give a damn.
Hamid Karzai agrees 99% of the time with the Taliban and against us and the ONLY thing of value in Afghanistan is drugs.
*******************
The civilians in the villages that McChystal wants to reassure are upset and angry over these new ROE. They say it will make their situation worse, not better.
THEY say it is an open invitation to the taliban to take over peoples’ homes, surround themselves with women and children, and make their daily lives even more harsh than it already is.
There is more, but I am really, really tired right now.

[DakotaRed]

Where is all the praise those who opposed and spoke against Bush received?

[FreeStateYank]

I’ve been thinking the same thing. Except the pubbies aren’t going quietly, much to the consternation of the WH and their traveling congress critters.

Zero’s fools are trying Chi-town politics, dangling military support for a pyretic victory on health tax legislation.

[XenaLee]

"But he is bringing hope and change???"

Not exactly. More like hope for no change and change with no hope.

[Lumper20]

You are correct as the yes men will be the Gens. These will not just be the traditional ass kissers who as Captains and Majors falsified input to unit readiness reports, then expected others to falsify reports for them when they were BN and BDE CO’s. These new Gens will be widely diverse with minorities and females, plus those who openly advocate gay rights in service.

[Lumper20]

I do not know what idiot came up with the ROE’s? When I read them quite some time ago I thought someone was joking. Then I followed the operation where the marines were dropped off in an area. I read a few days of reports until I was sick. Frankly,I thought he,the Gen, made those ROE’s?

[snowsislander]

The Kenyan Clown intends to destroy our military.

[Shery]

You can say that again!

[SkyPilot]

So who went and whined to the press and told them Odinga 'dressed down' and humiliated the General on the tarmac inside Air Force One?

Obama and his flunkies! That's who!

This has "Dead Fish" Rahm's dirty fingerprints all over it.

Here is the difference. Rahm and his thugs can get away with threatening GOP Senators, Congressman, and their aides because the press will let them slime away.

The Community Organizers who majored in "Black Studies" who permeate the White House staff cannot get away with trashing a 4 star general who is fighting their war for their Commander in Chief. They cannot get away with trashing our military.

Why?

Because men and women dying on the battlefield trumps his "Chicago Way" cheap politics. No President, ever, has been able to sell that snake oil to the American people when it comes to our military men and women.

Johnson didn't even remotely try to hang all the faults of Vietnam on the military, but his aides did when they saw what their what their micromanagement had done to the war. Eventually, Johnson became consumed by Vietnam.

Afgahnaistan was the "Good War" on the Obama campaign trail. The Democrats all followed this ridiculous line because they wanted to inflict maximum political damage on GW Bush and the war in Iraq.

Now, the "Chickens are Coming Home to Roost!"

[SkyPilot]

#41 was a very good post, and well delivered.

[Terry Mross]

Gates joined the enemy. Or was he already the enemy when W appointed him?

[Lumper20]

You nailed it. July 2008 and many other times prior to the actual election Obama was telling everyone how Afghanistan was the just war. Obama and his left wing pals built up Afghan like if he/we are elected, we will win in Afghan. Now these clowns are showing their true colors.

[mrisiah]

Did you catch Glenn Beck tonight?

The question is, why?

http://www.glennbeck.com/content/articles/article/198/31546/

Fast forward to minute 10:26, then 6:09 then 5:27. The time line moves in reverse.

If you have the time, watch the entire piece as it is worth it .

I am sickened by the actions of Mr. O as he carelessly puts our troop’s lives in danger, and continues to destroy our country. I thought Carter was the worst; boy was I wrong.

Our troops are putting their necks on the line every single day and this guy would rather go to try and get the Olympics in Chicago, minute 7:44, rather than doing HIS JOB by protecting our troops and our nation!

Pull the troops OUT or give the General the tools he needs to do his job!

Our kids are getting killed and this guy in the Oval Office would rather play games and politics in order to have HIS agenda met.

http://www.pressofatlanticcity.com/news/breaking/article_db73bfe6-b213-11de-a46a-001cc4c002e0.html

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=113479132

Yes! I am angry, as anyone one of those kids could be my son or daughter.

Beck quotes Regan and I surely miss a man like Regan right about now.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ixNPplo-SU

[panthermom]

Air strikes are down over 50% since the new REO. The press makes it seem like we are there mowing down civilians yet, they can’t bring themselves to tell that the Taliban will go in and slaughter folk to either make the village comply with hiding them or because they need the body count up to blame it on us.

Unfortunately civilians will die, but much like the pain of ripping off a bandaid, if we would just go in full force and start making clear headway in taking out the Taliban, eventually the population will be on our side. They are tribal people, they don’t like the Taliban either, but if you disagree with them you are dead, they are in survival mode. Does anybody really believe that the locals are not dying daily at the hands of the Taliban? Complain and we kill the rest of your family.

Add thousands more troops to get this thing under control, ONLY if they can do what they are trained to do! This whole situation would be a lot less drawn out. Then worry about infrastructure and schools.

[Lumper20]

I agree with much of what you say. Very few people except combat Infantrymen,marines,and spec ops types really know what war is like and how changing rules of engagement effects a unit. We have a media that reports every casualty, runs with lead stories of every so called civilian killed, hypes up 600-700 killed in Afghan thus far. Let me assure everyone that 600-700 is very low for eight years. We had 10,000 KIA in 1968 and 12,000 KIA in 1969.

Still any US death is mourned and any death caused by ROE changes is negligence by the commander. These silly ROE’s are taking away our technology advantage plus they are tying the hands of every combat commander. I cannot imagine any commander breaking enemy contact and running just because he sees an old man or whatever. This is ludicrous.

Had anyone ever told me I could not call in TAC Air on the enemy, I would have been furious. I disagree with the Gen’s ROE’s.

[The Wizard]

keep talking generals....you work for the people.

[N. Theknow]

Please generals - say the truth and don’t back down!

Better to be a plain sleeve private than a Four Star Suck-up.

[panthermom]

My neighbor is a 23 yrs. old Marine, he was hit by an IED on July 14th. He told us they had cleared a village the weekend before. During patrols the locals would come up to the tanks smiling and waving, we in turn gave them food, the kids candy, fresh water, etc. On the day he was hit, he and his crew were transferring a Doctor to the village, as soon as they entered they had a bad feeling, those same villagers that were greeting them over the past few days were standing there staring at them, nobody waved or ran up, they just watched and that boom.

The Taliban come in under the cover of darkness, they kill civilians, they hold families hostage. Ben told me flat out that we know they kill the civilians to up the body count and blame it on us.

[HereInTheHeartland]

“Not exactly. More like hope for no change and change with no hope. “

He did get a puppy, had a garden planted, and appeared on late night television.
That’s a lot to do in 10 months.