Posted on 06/24/2010 6:54:53 AM PDT by tobyhill
General Stanley McChrystal was the right man for Afghanistan. He was one of the few in the top military ranks who understood counterinsurgency. Unfortunately, he had to go and spoil it all. He and his staff had a mass stupidity attack and shot off their mouths to a freelance Rolling Stone reporter who gleefully printed critical comments about President Obama, Obama’s special envoy Richard Holbrooke and Ambassador Karl Eikenberry. McChrystal has done stupid things with the press before, so his relief of command was required.
I can only wonder why generals do such things. This reminds me of 1990, when US Air Force chief of staff General Michael Dugan told journalists how the Air Force was going to win the Gulf War alone and how the Israelis were helping the Americans with intelligence. In one stroke he offended both the US military and the Arab allies who were critical for the war effort. He was sacked immediately and rightly so.
Perhaps when you reach four-star rank or high political status you are surrounded by so many sycophants that you lose your sense of perspective. Perhaps top generals and political appointees believe they are so indispensible that they can do anything they want. In any case, a young journalist – certainly no Bob Woodward – found it easy to pry some amazing comments out of McChrystal and his staff.
(Excerpt) Read more at blogs.telegraph.co.uk ...
Clueless on everything...No longer the Government Of the People. We have a dictator...hopefully, nbot much longer.
lulz, this is not restricted to the issue of the military; Jack Squat Barry’s entire administration is a clueless joke, period.
...Beyond wasting other peoples money and screwing over............pretty much everyone.
They are committed Marxist/Anarchists whose
only goal is the destruction of this Free Republic.
“(Barack Obama and) Barack Obama’s inner circle really is clueless about the military”
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Yes, Yes...they’re clueless bout many, many things!
Ya gotta admit it, though...they have Lucifer/Alinsky’s community organizing down to a ‘T’!
But, they’re now applying it at a higher level than community, namely national/world level—so ya gotta ‘spect a few bumps here and there—overall, things are moving along nicely for them!
;(
Evil Marches On!!!!!
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ALL of them are leftist fools who don’t live in the real world and who believe that the US is the cause of all bad that happens. Their idea of a military is one that keeps the local populace under strict control....they’re control.
Swen 18 minute(s) ago
Hastings has just "Jumped the Shark". He has screwed all bloggers, rag writers and faux Journ from ever getting any info from the military. Embedded, forget it. Won't happen. Hastings is a lefty and is working for the right rag. Guess he can spent time writing about gaga's bones.
“Perhaps when you reach four-star rank or high political status you are surrounded by so many sycophants that you lose your sense of perspective.”
My experience has been that sycophants don’t last long in special ops.
Colonel, USAFR
While we discuss McCrystal and his actions, we avoid the topic in this article. This is the reason for McCrystal’s comments.
Obama is clueless and incompetent.
The general keeps drawing his check and does not have to be under the idiots thumb.
Barack, Biden, and Hillary Clinton all supported the Moveon.org ad calling him “General Betray us”.
They need to publicly apologize.
Barack was also 101% opposed to the surge. And then Barack thinks he “hit a triple” in making Afghanistan safer than Bush.
Oh bosh, Hillary almost joined the Marine Corps at one time. That certainly has to give her advisory credentials.
“He and his staff had a mass stupidity attack and shot off their mouths...”
Yes, there is nobody like masters of tactics and strategy to just blurt out what they really think.
Seriously, now. McChrystal has been ignored by the White House for months, despite numerous, urgent requests. This means a refusal on the part of Obama and his little collective of empty suits to make a decision, *any* decision.
As far as the White House is concerned, they are more than happy for there to be an “autopilot status quo” with Afghanistan, that they can forget about.
All their schemes are domestic ones, because they have no clue about anything outside of the United States. They have no real understanding of history, war and military matters, treaties, realpolitik, and who our friends and enemies are.
For example, what *imbecile* in the White House has made it a point to offend the British half a dozen times now, for no other reason than to offend them? Is it the ghost of Ted Kennedy, lashing out at them on behalf of green Ireland?
And Sarkozy of France has no bones about the White House being a collective of ignorant naives.
Heaven knows what Putin thinks, but I bet it isn’t pretty.
On ABC News last night, Jake Tapper ended his segment on the McChrystal firing by saying:
paraphrased,
“The president told his staff that if anyone is caught “gloating” over this, I’m gonna come down on them hard like a ton of bricks.”
Now, WHY WOULD THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA EVEN HAVE TO THINK SUCH A THING, LET ALONE, SAY IT???????????????????/............
“...Obama shows a complete lack of interest in military issues and was unprepared to talk in a substantive manner with the general who is leading America’s major war. This is a scary revelation.”
This is really unpardonable and disgraceful coming from a CIC… AND, during wartime.
Here is a world leader whose pen and policies are prepared, executed and only possible with an absolute assurance and wholly unflinching confidence in the honor, death-defying valor, willingness to sacrifice, authentic patriotism and sheer, selfless courage of the US soldier.
Could he muster a little regard for what these people have done and continue to do for the US? Is “O” so small and mean that not even generations of military tradition rate his attention or respect?
Any other leader on earth, no matter how puny his turf or global standing, would kill for access to that kind of technology, power, resources and the unfailing allegiance of its troops. (AND don’t kid yourself for a minute about what they would do with it either!!)
God, we have a real POS for a CIC!
“General Stanley McChrystal was the right man for Afghanistan.”
True, but it’s hard to argue Petraeus is the wrong man. The reality is, both were equally adept at the military side of COIN, but Petraeus also knows how to play the political game in a way that McChrystal never could (or would).
Remember that McChrystal got taken to the woodshed already last fall about shooting off his mouth. I think he just didn’t give a damn—especially when saddled with conditions (a politically-established withdrawal deadline) that worked against the success of what he was trying to do. He apparently didn’t beg for his job, which tells me he’s perfectly happy being relieved of commanding a no-win situation.
It will be interesting to see whether Petraeus can convince Obama to abandon the deadline. With his plummeting approval ratings, Obama may be quite desperate next summer and hence very open to arguments that sticking to his artificial deadline would turn the public against him even more.
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