He’s meeting with Obama and Biden tomorrow and offered to resign.
Barack Obama will confront General Stanley McChrystal at the White House tomorrow as he decides whether to sack the commander of US and Nato forces in Afghanistan over disparaging and “contemptuous” remarks about senior administration officials, including the president himself.
The White House said “all options are on the table” after an “angry” Obama summoned McChrystal to Washington to explain quotes in the latest issue of Rolling Stone magazine in which the general and his senior aides accuse the US ambassador to Afghanistan of undermining the war, call the president’s national security adviser “a joke” and mock Joe Biden, the vice-president. There is also indirect criticism of the president as “uncomfortable and intimidated” by senior military officials.
Obama said he is considering McChrystal’s future. “I think it’s clear that the article in which he and his team appeared showed poor judgment. But I also want to make sure I talk to him directly before I make any final decisions,” he said.
Read the Rolling Stone article that started all this:
‘How’d I get screwed into going to this dinner?” demands Gen. Stanley McChrystal. It’s a Thursday night in mid-April, and the commander of all U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan is sitting in a four-star suite at the Hôtel Westminster in Paris. He’s in France to sell his new war strategy to our NATO allies – to keep up the fiction, in essence, that we actually have allies. Since McChrystal took over a year ago, the Afghan war has become the exclusive property of the United States. Opposition to the war has already toppled the Dutch government, forced the resignation of Germany’s president and sparked both Canada and the Netherlands to announce the withdrawal of their 4,500 troops. McChrystal is in Paris to keep the French, who have lost more than 40 soldiers in Afghanistan, from going all wobbly on him.
A separate question is assuming he has to go, should he be fired instead of being allowed to resign? Another one, of course, is McCrystal being impolitic, but right in his statements?
The right wingers are digging this… they have forced this “weak Obama” narrative so hard that it politically pressures Obama to fire McCrystal for insubordination.
But, if he fires McCrystal, they’ll lambaste Obama for being a “Chicago thug” who doesn’t listen to the generals.
Nevermind that their hero, Bush Jr., fired any general who disagreed with him, even privately and quietly. They thought THAT was fantastic.
>> clancys_daddy said, on June 22nd, 2010 at 5:15 pm
>> At this point his military career is effectively over. If he believes what he said is true than he should stand up in front of Obama and state that is what he believes.
It’s worse than that. It was McCrhyystal who developed the McChrystal Strategy for Afghanistan!
It is sleazy, in the first degree, for McChrystal to blame Obama for the failure of the McCrystal Strategy!
Probably trying to get fired. Who the hell whats to be saddled with an impossible war?
Anyone remember Westmoreland? Thought not.
“He is guilty of sedition. He should be tried, and if found guilty, hanged.” Sedition ws against the law in the 1798 and again in 1940 but it isn’t now. However, it IS punishable by the Uniform Code of Military Justice, Article 94.
Gotta side with the General here. Its sad to see the amount of people who disagree. Standing up and voicing dissent is what our Fore Fathers did. The meaning of having a pair is telling the king he’s wrong even when you know your head goes on the chopping block.
Maybe the end of America is the loss of our balls.
#26 – Bobbo –
Imagine you are a Gunnery Sargent in the Marine Corps. Do you think that you could get away with publicly saying shit like that about your Commanding Officer? Here we have a General publicly badmouthing the POTUS (and Commander in Chief) and the VP of the USA.
But the General will win in the long run… the Tea Party will have a new hero, and the seven figure book advance is in the works. Never mind that under the general’s leadership the war in Afghanistan has gone increasingly bad for American soldiers, and, like Donald Rumsfeld, we may actually be better off without him.
Well if his arguments have validity, I’d say just Article 15 his ass.
If he’s being a dimwit intentionally because he doesn’t like working for a black man, well then I would do a Truman on him before he shoots his mouth off again.
#2
McArthur was not a good general. If you look at his career as a whole he made numerous uninformed decisions and disregarded good information that got American troops killed and Philippine citizens killed. He was a cowboy. Did the history books tell you about a ship that was supposed to evacuate US soldiers off the Philippines, that he decided needed to be filled up with his furniture instead of US soldiers. The result being more US prisoner marched across the jungle and dying.
I give credit where it is due though. Everyone said his amphibious landing in Korea would be a bloodbath and get the US forced annihilated. He went ahead with it regardless (cause he’s a cowboy), and it actually worked and probably won us the stalemate that would have been a loss.
#3
You’re completely wrong. He works for Obama. If you think for one second that you could go say that kind of thing about your boss and suffer no repercussions, think again. While he’s in the military, he is obligated to keep his views about the President to himself. If he wants to open his mouth, he can resign and then he has every right to voice his opinions.
Personally, I don’t think he ought to resign, I think he’s well qualified for the job he’s doing, I just don’t think he showed the best self-control in his interview with Rolling Stone.
#2 We didn’t lose the Vietnam war because of politics. Once we figured the damn thing out we also realized it wasn’t central to our national interest. It is easy to blame early mistakes on subsequent leaders. Everybody should only be blamed for their own mess.
Your mention of Patton makes me recommend a book called: “Target: Patton.”
#24 Very interesting. I remember a 60 Minutes interview where he said that if he ever thought the fight was unwinnable he would bail. Could that be now?
All of this goes back to why the military strongly resisted counter-insurgency in the period since Vietnam. No heroes are anointed, no overwhelming threat is defeated, and no clear victory is achieved. If you are a general and want to obtain historic status you must kick serious ass. Patton was famous for kicking more ass than his superiors had desired. Hard to do that as a national level beat cop.
The only reason we don’t have a nominal presence in Afghanistan is that we have never caught Usama bin Ladin. That was BushBaby reallocating troops toward Iraq. Now we have to pretend we are going to reshape one of the most resolutely primitive places on earth? At any expense for an unlimited number of years?
He’s a General. He’s supposedly not stupid if he got that far up in the army hierarchy. However, he mouths off to a civilian magazine about his superiors.
He obviously did it because he doesn’t give a shit about his actual job and wants to make points before he goes off into civilian land. If he cared about his mission and men he wouldn’t be bitching to Rolling Stone, he’d talk to the commander in chief and the joint chiefs.
But, hey, all you idiots don’t like Obama so you’d rather pile on and ignore the fact that the man is doing his country a disservice by saying such crap in a public forum. Obama should demote and reassign him for it.
As for the idiot commenter comparing Obama to Hitler — I’m sorry you were homeschooled by idiots, perhaps you should read history occasionally and do some of that book lernin’ you hears about.
The VP is not in the chain of command. I couldn’t care less if he calls Biden a clown.
Although by doing so he is violating article 88 of the UCMJ.
But like I said: f*ck Biden, he is a clown.
Knock a couple of stars off this shoulder with the stipulation that he gets one back when he captures Bin Laden and the other when he brings the troops home safely. A tear-filled televised apology will be an added bonus.
Way to go soldier boy. Does the acronym FUBAR ring a bell?
44,
That is a lost cause. Thats like Finding yourself in the middle of HIDE AND SEEK, and you didnt even know you were playing.
IMHO,
AT THE BEGINNING, they should of had ALL BORDERS COVERED AND MONITORED..they didnt.
If ya chase a BEAR into the woods, with a BUNCH of hunters..Wouldnt it be nice to have some one waiting on the other side?
DIDNT HAPPEN.
Just want to make one thing clear. The german president did not resign because of the US. He stated that this war was all about money and got shredded into little pieces by politicians. So he said f&*k it …I’m outta here (in german, of course).
I hope that Obama is the man he seems to be (to me). Someone who appreciated being open about everything. That the Gen’s opinion was made public was stupid, but that is something he (and teh Gen) has to deal with. And he can’t act like a little kid who’s toy got taken away from him (what most leaders do nowadays…)
Dee,
the problem ISNT the elected persons..
ITS THOSE IN THE BACKGROUND..
Look at those in the past that are STILL in Washington.
Obama should resign.
McChrystal should be promoted while Obama should resign.
Eisenhower has answered all your questions and he did so 50 year’s ago. Google ‘Eisenhower’s last address as president.’ In the 1950’s, you will hear…not a conspiracy theorist, not a ‘whistleblower,’ not a drug addict, not a mentally ill person, but THE former 5 star general turned president tell you exactly why, if we allow it, war will be fought in the coming generation’s. He warned all American’s of the military industrial complex. Keep chalking it up to politics, national sovereignty, pride, etc. You are all wrong. It’s more simple than you can imagine. There are no ‘nation’s,’ no ‘loyalty,’ no ‘politics.’ War is profit and all the major nations are apart of it. They do not protect their own nation’s, they protect investment’s. Take, for example, Hillary Clinton. The governor of Arizona has to find out officially that the federal government is suing them from a foreign media outlet. Hillary Clinton told foreigner’s of (her) the federal government’s intent to sue to HER allies, foreigner’s, not a state to whom she is supposed to protect.
We have mexicans threatening our border law enforcement, even to the extent that there are signs along our border warning American’s, in our own country, against travel as it could lead to death or kidnapping. Meanwhile, Obama tells a senator that he won’t enforce our border’s as it would harm the illegal amnesty he wants to grant. Google THAT! Some countries are reporting that we are already in a civil war. Some are wondering why Obama has declared war on Arizona instead of Mexico. All of you will wake up, but you won’t be speaking english at that time, fools.
I have never worked in any organization where the top weren’t criticized. To expect a General would say something negative about his superiors is nothing new or unique.
However, it is still insubordination when your boss finds out. The boss(es) set policy and the General carries it out. The General has two choices, he may resign the job (and his career), he may accept the job and do the best with the tools he has at hand, or he may attempt to influence the established policy by ignoring it or not trying to follow it (and possibly ruin his own career).
General McCrystal chose door #3.
#50, RUANIDIOT,
The governor of Arizona has to find out officially that the federal government is suing them from a foreign media outlet. Hillary Clinton told foreigner’s of (her) the federal government’s intent to sue to HER allies, foreigner’s, not a state to whom she is supposed to protect.
10,000 comedians out of work and you want to be funny. Clinton received a formal complaint from Mexico. Her response to the complaint was to repeat the government’s policies. She has nothing to do with the actual filing of the challenge. Nor does the Secretary of State have anything to do with notifying a specific State of legal action. It is up to the lawyers filing the suit to notify the State Attorney General, not the Governor. It is the Attorney General that officially notifies the Governor and legislature.
On the other hand, I don’t know why you are upset. States, including Arizona, do this all the time. It is a variation on the “perp walk”, which is solely meant to embarrass the accused. Attorneys General will often announce a law suit to the press before the claim is filed in court.
We have never learned the art of limited warfare. It’s a political war micromanaged from Washington. It’s not a popular war. Isn’t this a rerun? You can’t win a limited war. You end up with high casualties and the enemy will wait you out. If the USSR shooting and bombing everything in sight couldn’t do it, our very limited ROE’s certainly will not.
The president is gagging on my gas bladder, what an honor!
McChrystal should hand in his resignation, at which point Obama should put it in a drawer, and tell him that he can resign when he finishes his job. When it comes time to draw down from Afghanistan, McChrystal will be the best military advocate for it.
No country has ever won a war with Afghanistan, why do people think that the US can?
#43–SL==thanks.
http://usmilitary.about.com/od/punitivearticles/a/mcm88.htm
As I thought, no requirement to agree with the boss. Certainly, such disagreement would affect the troops and military order/effectiveness. But it could be finessed if desired.
Every “political” war should be resisted by the Military. They don’t. They are all whores including McMouse. Just because you get upset and shoot off your mouse, doesn’t make you any less a whore. Obama too.
War–the last option, not the first. Another Bush Legacy that Obama failed to throw off.
#56–Rabble==didn’t the USA win the Afgh war when we removed the Taliban? We are fighting “in” Afgh now not “with” Afgh. In all fairness, the war was won, then we turned to Nation Building==a huge blunder as was the same Bush fiasco in Iraq.
War–a last resort, not the first option.
Follow the Powell Doctrine. Overwhelming Force. Clear Objectives, Exit Strategy. In–Out. Anything else is fraudulent.
58,
Bobbo,
A good army can fight its way through Afghanistan; the trick is to stay. Nobody has sucessfully pulled that off. It isn’t called “The Graveyard of Empires” for nothing.
We should have gone in, toppled the Taliban, caught Bin Laden, and left the Afghans to their own devices while offering aid and training.
Frankly, I think an Afghan Federation based on warlord tribal areas would be the only thing that would work in the long run, anyway.
#59–smartalix==the concept of “staying” has nothing to do with war. Staying as more to do with building an empire==much more difficult than mere “waring.”
Clarity in thinking, word choice, ideas being represented is crucial when understanding the universe.
Nice website btw. Do you think we will ever have some sort of “technology breakthough” in enegy production or will digging up and burning the earth always be the cheapest way to have energy?