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“Masters and Commanders” Gives Insight on Obama and McChrystal
Lexington Institute ^ | Wednesday, June 23, 2010 | Daniel Goure, Ph.D.

Posted on 06/23/2010 6:55:05 AM PDT by Yo-Yo

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Rolling Stone recently published a major expose of the administration’s failures to deal with the dysfunctional Minerals Management Service in the run up to the BP oil disaster.

When did Rolling Stone become so conservative?

1 posted on 06/23/2010 6:55:08 AM PDT by Yo-Yo
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To: Yo-Yo

Maybe they ran out of drugs.


2 posted on 06/23/2010 6:57:32 AM PDT by hsalaw
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To: Yo-Yo
Just ONE problem with this article....

It would logically take it to mean that the reader would have to elevate bHo to a higher status than Community Organizer....nope, just CAN'T do that... No, I can't.

3 posted on 06/23/2010 6:59:57 AM PDT by NordP (COMMON SENSE CONSERVATIVES - Love of Country, Less Govt, Stop Spending, No Govt Run Health Care!!!)
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To: Yo-Yo

Maybe they accidentally hired some real journalists instead of some liberal arts majors who “want to make a difference”


4 posted on 06/23/2010 7:00:18 AM PDT by Timocrat
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To: Yo-Yo
Perhaps its just relaying objective truth. After all, if you believe Conservatism to be true, then it follows that any honest and accurate presentation of facts must of neccesity validate conservatism. It's only when the other side spins it that stories validate liberalism.

Of course, it might simply be that Rolling Stone is primarily biased not to liberalism, but to sensationalism, and their major expose of the administration is based on the simple fact that "it's a good story".

5 posted on 06/23/2010 7:02:21 AM PDT by Vanders9
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To: Yo-Yo

Another lesson from WW2 is that while the top leadership developed a war-winning strategy, they did not micromanage the actions of their subordinates. For examples, the orders to Eisenhower were quite clear:

1 You are hereby designated as Supreme Allied Commander of the forces placed under your orders for operations for liberation of Europe from Germans. Your title will be Supreme Commander Allied Expeditionary Force.
2 Task. You will enter the continent of Europe and, in conjunction with the other United Nations, undertake operations aimed at the heart of Germany and the destruction of her armed forces. The date for entering the Continent is the month of May, 1944.

There was more to these orders, but Ike’s main directive is contained in those two short paragraphs. The total order does not exceed one page. Can you imagine anything so simple, straightforward and direct from our National Command Authority today?

No way.


6 posted on 06/23/2010 7:03:31 AM PDT by henkster (A broken government does not merit full faith and credit.)
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To: Yo-Yo

I can’t imagine what is going through General McChrystal’s mind right now. Having to go up in front of a piss ant that doesn’t know his butt from a hole in the ground and explain himself. If I were him I would just walk up to the President, hand him my resignation and say “End of conversation”. The interesting part is that it is said that all other officers under him totally support him. What will they do? This President does not have the support of the military because he hasn’t earned it.


7 posted on 06/23/2010 7:05:19 AM PDT by RC2
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To: Vanders9
Perhaps its just relaying objective truth. After all, if you believe Conservatism to be true, then it follows that any honest and accurate presentation of facts must of neccesity validate conservatism. It's only when the other side spins it that stories validate liberalism.

It has been my experience that relaying objective truth, regardless of the consequences, usually signifies a conservative reporting institution, whereas only reporting on the portions of a story that tend to reinforce liberal points of view is the hallmark of liberal reporting.

Therefore, any article the even remotely resembles criticism of Zero is, in my book, leaning towards conservatism.

8 posted on 06/23/2010 7:07:29 AM PDT by Yo-Yo (Is the /sarc tag really necessary?)
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To: Yo-Yo
"When did Rolling Stone become so conservative?"

I don't think they ever did; I think it's more a case of the left becoming 'the establishment.' In fact, that's one of the reasons I strongly suspect McChrystal and his staff have masterfully orchestrated a classic strategic PSYOP/Civil Affairs campaign through a few deliberate, but anonymous leaks, and this morning it now looks like yesterday's rumours of McChrystal's resignation were even part of a subtle disinformation campaign.

Had McChrystal aired his grievances to Fox, the WSJ or National Review, he would have been written off as a right-wing Obama basher. The exploitation of Rolling Stone puts the whole matter where it can not be ignored or swept under the carpet by the MSM or the left in general. McChrystal has positioned himself as the rebel and the underdog, and Obama is now the oppressive establishment.

Obama is fighting by Alinsky rules. McChrystal showed up with his copy of Sun-Tzu.

9 posted on 06/23/2010 7:08:43 AM PDT by Joe 6-pack (Que me amat, amet et canem meum)
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To: RC2

To add to your comment, I was frosted this morning when I heard bloated Bobby Gibbs say, in response to the general’s comment that B.O. was distracted and unprepared in their former meeting, “Well, the general will have the president’s full attention NOW.” OOOOhhhh, I’m SO SCARED! I predicted that the general will grovel but was immediately corrected by a FReeper who said that he will NOT grovel. I would PAY to see a verbal slapdown and sucker punch to the gum-flapper-in-chief. Seems he never encounters anything but yes-men and lackeys.


10 posted on 06/23/2010 7:10:39 AM PDT by 1951Boomer
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To: Yo-Yo

bump for later.


11 posted on 06/23/2010 7:12:11 AM PDT by Sic Parvis Magna
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To: Joe 6-pack

great analysis ... McCrystal is flying the plane here ... NOT Zero ... and there’s undoubtedly MORE to come ... I absolutely love this ...


12 posted on 06/23/2010 7:14:36 AM PDT by Patton@Bastogne (Angels and Ministers of Grace, Defend Us ....)
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To: RC2

To resign would not be as interesting (fun?) as watching the community-organizer-in-chief squirm and rely on his minions to prop him up. McC is going to enjoy this.


13 posted on 06/23/2010 7:24:24 AM PDT by sarasota
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To: Patton@Bastogne

This is going to be a great day, watching for more action by a man who intimidates Obozo and will know precisely what to say in front of this amateur.


14 posted on 06/23/2010 7:27:29 AM PDT by sarasota
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To: Yo-Yo

bump


15 posted on 06/23/2010 7:31:29 AM PDT by COUNTrecount (Barry...above his poi grade.)
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To: Yo-Yo

bump


16 posted on 06/23/2010 7:31:38 AM PDT by COUNTrecount (Barry...above his poi grade.)
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To: Yo-Yo
FTA: But at no time either in Washington or London was there an example of the kind of chaos and infighting that has marked the Obama Administration’s management of the Afghanistan war. The central theme of the Rolling Stone article is not the bad behavior of a rogue commander but about a dysfunctional leadership in Washington. The article makes the Obama team appear to be less a team of rivals and more like a team of nine year olds.

The exposure of that chaos and McChrystal's apparent dissatisfaction with the murderous (for Americans) ROE are, IMHO, the real reasons why the Regime is so upset with the article.

Many people who read this may ask why I refer to McChrystal's "apparent dissatisfaction" with the ROE when the article doesn't report a single antagonistic thing said about the ROE by McChrystal or any of his close subordinates. That's because the article does extensively discuss the great dissatisfaction among the troops with the ROE, dissatisfaction which McChrystal was quite happy to let the article's author observe and report on. McChrystal has not challenged the article's accuracy. He deliberately allowed the author to sit in on sessions with the troops where dissatisfaction with the ROE was strongly expressed. He could have challenged the article's accuracy accuracy and, initially, prevented the author from observing the troops' dissatisfaction with the ROE. That he didn't speaks volumes and tells me he dislikes the ROE he was forced to implement as much as the troops do. By allowing reporting on the troops' dissatisfaction he, in effect, criticized the ROE and those who forced him to impose the ROE.

17 posted on 06/23/2010 7:31:48 AM PDT by libstripper
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To: libstripper

I was under the impression that the ROE were McChrystal’s idea? Am I incorrect? thx.


18 posted on 06/23/2010 7:37:51 AM PDT by jpsb
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There is a story that when President Lincoln was asked to fire General Ulysses Grant he replied, “I can’t fire him, he fights.”

And there is another story about Lincoln's tolerating the newly-promoted General Joseph's loose-lippedness. The story comes from Lincoln hisself:

Executive Mansion
Washington, January 26, 1863

Major General Hooker:
General.
I have placed you at the head of the Army of the Potomac. Of course I have done this upon what appear to me to be sufficient reasons. And yet I think it best for you to know that there are some things in regard to which, I am not quite satisfied with you. I believe you to be a brave and a skilful soldier, which, of course, I like. I also believe you do not mix politics with your profession, in which you are right. You have confidence in yourself, which is a valuable, if not an indispensable quality. You are ambitious, which, within reasonable bounds, does good rather than harm. But I think that during Gen. Burnside's command of the Army, you have taken counsel of your ambition, and thwarted him as much as you could, in which you did a great wrong to the country, and to a most meritorious and honorable brother officer. I have heard, in such way as to believe it, of your recently saying that both the Army and the Government needed a Dictator. Of course it was not for this, but in spite of it, that I have given you the command. Only those generals who gain successes, can set up dictators. What I now ask of you is military success, and I will risk the dictatorship. The government will support you to the utmost of it's ability, which is neither more nor less than it has done and will do for all commanders. I much fear that the spirit which you have aided to infuse into the Army, of criticising their Commander, and withholding confidence from him, will now turn upon you. I shall assist you as far as I can, to put it down. Neither you, nor Napoleon, if he were alive again, could get any good out of an army, while such a spirit prevails in it.

And now, beware of rashness. Beware of rashness, but with energy, and sleepless vigilance, go forward, and give us victories.

Yours very truly,
A. Lincoln

19 posted on 06/23/2010 7:43:23 AM PDT by flowerplough (Damn the middle-class social conventions that require me to mow all those violets and buttercups!)
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To: Joe 6-pack
"Obama is fighting by Alinsky rules. McChrystal showed up with his copy of Sun-Tzu."

I love this line. If only it were true. I don't think it is. I think that McChrystal and his staff showed extremely poor judgement here. If I were the General in charge, I would not let a reporter from a friendly newspaper have unlimited access to me and my staff for a month, let alone the enemy at Rolling Stone. I truly don't think this is anything but a blunder of epic proportions. If all of the criticisms were directed at the Afghanistan team of Holbrooke and Eikenberry and things related to Afghanistan I would agree with you. If this was Machivellian or something out of Sun Tszu they would not have lambasted General Jones (who is a good man BTW) or Joe Biden. Those guys are not going to get fired and it does not advance your cause.

I predict McChrystal will not grovel before the Community Organizer in Chief and he will be fired. His Deputy Commander will take over and things will go on as before.
20 posted on 06/23/2010 7:44:55 AM PDT by Old Teufel Hunden
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