Posted on 06/22/2010 6:06:11 AM PDT by kristinn
There is a lot of uproar about Gen. Stanleys McChrystals disrespectful comments about his civilian bosses in the Obama administration, and President Obama would be entirely justified in firing McChrystal for statements McChrystal and his subordinates made to Rolling Stone. Obama is a deeply flawed commander-in-chief who doesnt want to be fighting a war on terror, but he is the commander-in-chief. He should have a general who will carry out his policies without public complaint until the voters can decide to change those policies.
But the bigger problem with McChrystals leadership has always been the generals devotion to unreasonably restrictive rules of engagement that are resulting in the unnecessary deaths of American and coalition forces.
We have had many, many accounts of the rules endangering Americans, and the Rolling Stone article provides more evidence. In the story, a soldier at Combat Outpost JFM who had earlier met with McChrystal was killed in a house that American officers had asked permission to destroy. From the article:
"The night before the general is scheduled to visit Sgt. Arroyos platoon for the memorial, I arrive at Combat Outpost JFM to speak with the soldiers he had gone on patrol with. JFM is a small encampment, ringed by high blast walls and guard towers. Almost all of the soldiers here have been on repeated combat tours in both Iraq and Afghanistan, and have seen some of the worst fighting of both wars. But they are especially angered by Ingrams death. His commanders had repeatedly requested permission to tear down the house where Ingram was killed, noting that it was often used as a combat position by the Taliban. But due to McChrystals new restrictions to avoid upsetting civilians, the request had been denied. These were abandoned houses, fumes Staff Sgt. Kennith Hicks. Nobody was coming back to live in them.
"One soldier shows me the list of new regulations the platoon was given. Patrol only in areas that you are reasonably certain that you will not have to defend yourselves with lethal force, the laminated card reads. For a soldier who has traveled halfway around the world to fight, thats like telling a cop he should only patrol in areas where he knows he wont have to make arrests. Does that make any ****ing sense? Pfc. Jared Pautsch. We should just drop a ****ing bomb on this place. You sit and ask yourself: What are we doing here?"
"One soldier shows me the list of new regulations the platoon was given. Patrol only in areas that you are reasonably certain that you will not have to defend yourselves with lethal force, the laminated card reads. For a soldier who has traveled halfway around the world to fight, thats like telling a cop he should only patrol in areas where he knows he wont have to make arrests. Does that make any ****ing sense? Pfc. Jared Pautsch. We should just drop a ****ing bomb on this place. You sit and ask yourself: What are we doing here?"
We have lost this war. A poster CPL Ingram should hang in obama's office to let him understand the consequences of his decisions.
But the only problem is that the WH has put restrictive measure on the military leaders there who in turned put restrictive measures on the troops...the WH approves of these measures!
Who talks to Rolling Stone anyway? The whole thing smells.
I hope he gets fired because he’s Zero’s butt boy.
It must have been hard for the President to find a guy that would fight a war the way he wanted it fought.
The only way he can redeem himself is to quit go public and take down Zero.
Speaking again about the intolerable Rules of Engagement from the incompetent Kenyan the White House. Ping.
WTF?
Send this WH and the DC Congressional circus packing ASAP!.
the buck stops with the CIC...who has no intention of winning this war.
Obama is the CIC, and he’s botched Afghanistan. He doesn’t know how to fight a war, and he won’t give rein to those who do. So just admit defeat and get out.
I agree that it is strange that McChrystal decided to drop his bombs in Rolling Stone.
Don’t ya just long for the days when a President was also a war veteran?
The ROE would be bring guns, bullets, more bullets, all your friends with guns and bullets. and kill anything that even remotely looked like the enemy.
Why are we determined to make the same mistakes we made in Vietnam over and over and over and over again?
Those who don’t know history doomed to repeat it ping....http://www.historynet.com/air-force-colonel-jacksel-jack-broughton-air-force-general-john-d-jack-lavelle-testing-the-rules-of-engagement-during-the-vietnam-war.htm
After “Lone Survivor”, I CANNOT BELIEVE we still have these INSANE rules of engagement. This needs to change immediately and if McChrystal doesn’t see that, he should go. Unfortunately, I don’t think we will see a change until O is gone in 2012. How many troops have to die unnecessarily before that?
Plus that, McPansy voted for Zero. Under this kind of leadership, we cannot nor will not ever win this war. Especially when they no longer call it a war. (Overseas Contingency Operation)
MaObama had this planned from the start, so he can be certain that our troops will be pulled in July 2011 regardless of the status of the country they are fighting to preserve.
I don’t understand why he would “drop the bombs” in the first place then apologize. If he wants to publicize something he believes to be true, why apologize? To me that makes him a kenyan boot licker.
From the big picture..to the little picture of not providing coffee - the soldiers keep getting hit with things that are bringing down their morale.
As one soldier said,
“ I was so shocked to hear such madness. Soldiers without coffee, it’s like soldiers without a weapon. The dining facility said it was due to the reduction of forces which also slashed a lot of expenditures and coffee being one of them.”
These guys need to be able to stay awake.
I was never aware of how little support soldiers get from the military for basic needs until I started sending care packages.
from the “art of war”
1 of 5 essentials for victory - “He will win who has military capacity and is not interfered with by the sovereign”
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