Posted on 06/22/2010 2:21:30 PM PDT by nickcarraway
General McChrystal's comments to Rolling Stone may be rocking Washington, but soldiers in Afghanistan downplay the impact.
The top US and NATO commander in Afghanistan, Gen. Stanley McChrystal, has been recalled to Washington to explain controversial remarks he made about leading Obama administration figures. But those on the front lines of the war say that the political squabble and inevitable fallout to come means little for them or the mission ahead.
In a Rolling Stone profile titled “The Runaway General” that appeared online on Tuesday morning and will hit news stands on Friday, McChrystal and his aides are quoted making sarcastic or unfavorable remarks about Vice President Joe Biden, US Ambassador to Afghanistan Karl W. Eikenberry, and others.
The piece opens with McChrystal complaining about having to meet with a French minister -- the kind of care and feeding of allies crucial for holding together an increasingly shaky international coalition. As casualities increase in Afghanistan, NATO allies such as Canada and the Netherlands are preparing to withdraw their troops in a year.
IN PICTURES: US soldiers serving in Afghanistan
But Canadian soldiers stationed in Kandahar Province, the birthplace of the Taliban and currently home to the war’s most intense fighting, mostly shrugged off the political firestorm.
“Whatever happens, we just keep doing our job,” says Canadian Army Master Cpl. Mathieu Jacob of Cap-Pelé, Canada. “Our job is our job.”
The Canadians are no strangers to high-level drama in their ranks. In May, Canadian Army Brig. Gen. Daniel Ménard, formerly Canada’s top soldier in Kandahar and commander of Joint Task Force Kandahar was relieved of command for allegedly having an affair with a female soldier on his staff. Soldiers are forbidden from having personal relationships while deployed in a war zone.
(Excerpt) Read more at csmonitor.com ...
Anyone who understands that Rolling Stone is
a Marxist rag can put it in perspective.
The General should have used WIkiLeaks.
The dhiminicarts would be carrying McChrystal on their shoulders chanting..
The best they could do is ask some Canadians? I know its a NATO thing, but do you think the canuks are going to care that much?
The soldiers know better than to express any political opinion at all.
Too bad the general didn’t follow the UCMJ.
Could you point to the part of the UCMJ that he violated - and with the statement/s that did violate it. I am not familiar enough with it to pick it out.
Military personnel are tasked with carrying out the orders of the CinC.........that CinC is a civilian.
The military is subordinate to civilian rule.
I understand all that. I have read the RS article twice and have yet to find a quote from McC that violates the UCMJ. Could you point it out?
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