Replies

At one point on his trip to Paris, McChrystal checks his BlackBerry. "Oh, not another e-mail from Holbrooke," he groans. "I don't even want to open it." He clicks on the message and reads the salutation out loud, then stuffs the BlackBerry back in his pocket, not bothering to conceal his annoyance.

...............................

"I like Karl (Eikenberry), I've known him for years, but they'd never said anything like that to us before," says McChrystal, who adds that he felt "betrayed" by the leak. "Here's one that covers his flank for the history books. Now if we fail, they can say, 'I told you so.' "

Both of these quotes, directly attributed to McChrystal, are problematic. Combined with all of the "Senior Aide" quotes, they show a disdain for the administration, not just in policy, but for particular people in the chain of command.

It's ironic, because it seems the reporter was trying to create a "liberal warrior" out of McChrystal and ended up trashing the administrations strategy in Afghanistan.

More on EIKENBERRY - the ANTI-MORALE ambassador to Afghanistan. From a very Sr. Sergeant Major that was serving with him at the time up at Camp Eggers I heard the following “he is considered the anti-morale device on the camp”. What this Sergeant Major was talking about was the fact that whenever “E3″ was around on the camp, nobody laughed, or joked or anything. E3 was known for leading by fear and intimidation rather than respect according to this senior leader I talked to. Whenever E3 was away from the camp, the morale went up considerably among the officers and NCOs that were the primary residents on the camp. It was probably a good thing that we didn’t talk to him, because on his visit to the PRT and our ANA FOB he pretty much yelled at and degraded every US soldier he encountered, to include several O6s. The rule of thumb was; if you had “US” on your name tape then be prepared to be disrespected and screamed at, but if you were Afghan then you could do no wrong. As a result of his visit, the Senior officer (the Brigade Team Chief) on our FOB, an O6 Colonel, his Executive Officer (O5-LT. Colonel) and the Command Sergeant Major of the Brigade were all relieved on the spot. He fired all of them after a 30 minute one way yelling match. Match may not be the right word, because it was one way, from him to them. As you may be able to tell, I am not a big fan of E3 and was not happy to see the President pick him as ambassador to Afghanistan. I mean, he is a good choice for the fact that he has Afghanistan experience. Even though O.J knows a little something about knives I still would not pick him to be a door to door cutlery salesman. http://www.bouhammer.com/2009/04/5-billion-unspent-by-the-anti-morale-device/

Fair enough. Do either of those quotes remotely represent the backlash McC's gotten?

There is something about this whole episode that bothers me. Conservatives/hawks are over reacting and the libs are only looking at how McC' "offended" Obama. The reaction doesn't jibe with the quotes.

If he had called Obama a bungling fool (which is, of course, the truth) there would be a justified reaction.

Most of the quotes are attributed to aides and soldiers. I really don't get the reaction from the right.

It's ironic, because it seems the reporter was trying to create a "liberal warrior" out of McChrystal and ended up trashing the administrations strategy in Afghanistan.

Yes, I got THAT too. The reporter tried, I think, to make McC look like a bit of a maverick a la McStupid hoping to elevate him in the eyes of the libs but it backfired.