Posted on 10/05/2009 6:19:27 PM PDT by Kaslin
How to proceed in Afghanistan will be among the most difficult and fateful decisions that President Obama ever makes. But he's the one who has to decide, not his generals. The men with the stars on their shoulders — and I say this with enormous respect for their patriotism and service — need to shut up and salute.
Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the commander of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan, is entitled to his opinion about the best way forward. But he has no business conducting a public campaign to build support for his preferred option, which is to send tens of thousands more troops into a country once called the "graveyard of empires."
McChrystal's view — that a strategy employing fewer resources, in pursuit of more limited goals, would be "short-sighted" — is something the White House needs to hear. He is, after all, the man Obama put in charge in Afghanistan, and it would be absurd not to take his analysis of the situation into account.
But McChrystal is out of line in trying to sell his position publicly, as he did last week in a speech in London.
Defense Secretary Robert Gates was right to lay down the law. Gates said Monday that it is "imperative" that military and civilian leaders "provide our best advice to the president candidly but privately."
I believe that's Pentagon-speak for: "Put a sock in it, Stan."
(Excerpt) Read more at investors.com ...
After the military gets rid of all the commies and socialists running around DC stealing our money and undermining national security it will be time to deal with the red propagandists in the press.
Shut up and salute my ass, Hussein and his fellow travelers are about to get a hell of a wake up call
So much for “Listen to the Generals.”
I think maybe all of these non-military type relatives and civilians should leave the soldiering to the soldiers.
It’s time for Obama to lead or get the hell out of the way.
You're high
The reds won't be stopped at the ballot box, and allowing a bunch of radical communists to destroy the military and steal everything that isnt nailed down is stupidity.
The officer corps has a duty to protect against all enemies foreign and domestic.
You do realize that your little "night of the long knives" fantasies are just that, fantasies? You've become the single most deluded poster on FR. Seek medication, and double the dose the doctor gives you.
I agree with Gates on this; as I did a number of times, on similar occasions, when active and retired military waged public campaigns against Bush over Iraq.
The last thing the men on the front lines need to worry about is that the White House does not support their commanders or their commanders do not support the White House.
To the men and women on the front lines, they need to know their mission and the support for it runs from top to bottom and bottom to top.
If McCrystal seriously believes the White House will continue to take a wrong turn, and is not listening to him, he needs to resign (acknowledging HE lacks confidence in His leaders), await his replacement, take off his uniform and then take his position public. Until then, he is fulfilling his responsibility to the nation and his professional duty, by simply insuring his superiors have heard and understood what he has to say. Meanwhile, there are plenty of others out of uniform that, on their own, have voiced and will continue to voice the same concerns about current US-Afghan policies.
McChrystal must resign immediately, to register his objection to that put-down and the impending let-down of his troops. He has to stand up for his men now by submitting his resignation if (as I expect he will) Obama bails.
Then it'll be time for Gates to report for his own 'nad check.
i And the rest of the senior Army staff, too. Aw, hell -- the entire JCS.
Amen!
LLS
First you'd have to establish beyond a doubt that that was what McChrystal did. I'm not yet sure he did anything like that. There are a ton of motivated leakers in DC of all stripes. It might not have been the general who leaked.
In any case, though, he ought to resign his commission at the rebuke from Gates, which basically accuses McChrystal publicly of dishonorable or improper conduct.
No, that was Randall Robinson, author of the bestseller The Debt, which made the case for reparations.
As a black man, the worst part of Randall Robinson's forwarding that false rumor on HuffPo was that HE BELIEVED IT. He thought his fellow African-Americans were so ignorant they would take to eating their dead neighbors rather than continue to wait for relief that was inexcusably delayed, but nonetheless guaranteed to be on its way.
“Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the commander of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan, is far to professional to put a sock where Obama needs to have a sock put.”
I predict General McChrystal, former leader of SFOD-Delta, will resign rather than submit to Obama’s political calculus.
And make no mistake, domestic politics are driving this issue, so every guy that gets blown up in Afghanistan is blood on the hands of Obama, Rahm Emanuel, David Axelrod, and the rest of the anti-American leftists who currently soil the WH.
How did McChrystal undermine the authority of the President? He was put in charge of Afghanistan by the CINC, to carry out the CINC's own counterinsurgency strategy that was put in place over six months ago.
The general's assessment of the resources needed to carry out that mission has been gathering dust for over six weeks.
During that time, we have suffered more losses in the conduct of the CINC's mission.
A combat leader's first duty is to complete the mission. To complete the mission, you must have adequate resources, most of all providing the proper leadership, guidance, and support to your soldiers.
President Obama is failing miserably as CINC. GEN McChrystal is doing his job.
Eugene Robinson is a disgrace.
General McChrystal is a hero and patriot.
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