Thoughts & Commentary on the Obama Administration

[Alexander the Pretty Good]

This Duncan fellow seems grand, I just can't imagine him actually making it. :/

[Xiahou]

This Duncan fellow seems grand, I just can't imagine him actually making it. :/

Meanwhile, they're phasing out vouchers in DC. Call me when they figure out how to translate talk into results.

Duncan can say whatever he wants, as long as he does the teacher's union's bidding, they'll probably be fine with him.

[Xiahou]

Obama fires US commander in Afghanistan
I thought this excerpt was interesting:

Asked if McKiernan's resignation would end his military career, Gates said, "Probably." But he praised the general's long service, and when pressed to name anything McKiernan had failed to do, Gates demurred.

"Nothing went wrong, and there was nothing specific," he said.

So he's finished, not just in Afghanistan, but in the military altogether. What did he do to make the administration want to force him out? I guess I'll have to wait for McKiernan's tell all book.

[Tribesman]

What did he do to make the administration want to force him out?

errrrrr.....

The White House said the recommended change came from the Pentagon.

So what did he do to make the pentagon want a special forces commander in place ?

[Xiahou]

errrrrr.....
So what did he do to make the pentagon want a special forces commander in place ?

The Pentagon.... headquarters of the DoD.... headed by Robert Gates- member of the Obama administration and reporting to Obama- the CinC.

Pack up your fishing gear and take it somewhere else please.

[Tribesman]

Pack up your fishing gear and take it somewhere else please.

[Alexander the Pretty Good]

Knowing the basics of the chain of command of the administration is floral? Why do we let you post here?

[KukriKhan]

errrrrr.....
So what did he do to make the pentagon want a special forces commander in place ?

When Generals get pink-slipped in the US, it's not usually for something they've done, rather a failure to achieve some goal.

My guess is that Gen. McKiernan had been given a major objective to achieve within a defined time-period, and did not get the job done. So now he, and his approach, are both being binned, and they're gonna take a new direction with a new local boss.

Within 30 days, we'll probably also see some other heads roll (i.e. transfers out-of-theater) of some Brigadiers and Colonels, chiefly on the Plans and Ops staffs.

[Tribesman]

When Generals get pink-slipped in the US, it's not usually for something they've done, rather a failure to achieve some goal.

so its business as usual which makes this a non-issue xiahou posted , shocking eh .

[rory_20_uk]

I'm confused. Isn't showing willingness to try new tactics a good thing, as opposed to refusing that a strategy isn't working? Again getting someone in who has more experience with the latter in hand seems to be sensible.

Is there a party based element I'm missing?

[Lemur]

I thought this excerpt was interesting:So he's finished, not just in Afghanistan, but in the military altogether. What did he do to make the administration want to force him out? I guess I'll have to wait for McKiernan's tell all book.

Here's a somewhat informed take:

When a Cabinet officer asks for a subordinate's resignation, it means that he's firing the guy. This doesn't happen very often in the U.S. military. McKiernan had another year to go as commander. (When Gen. George Casey's strategy clearly wasn't working in Iraq, President George W. Bush let him serve out his term, then promoted him to Army chief of staff.) Gates also made it clear he wasn't acting on a personal whim. He said that he took the step after consulting with Gen. David Petraeus, commander of U.S. Central Command; Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; and President Barack Obama. According to one senior official, Gates went over to Afghanistan last week for the sole purpose of giving McKiernan the news face-to-face.

Gates emphasized at a press conference today that McKiernan didn't do anything specifically wrong but that "fresh thinking" was needed urgently. The United States couldn't just wait until the current commander's term ran out.

An intellectual battle is now raging within the Army between an "old guard" that thinks about war in conventional, force-on-force terms and a "new guard" that focuses more on "asymmetric conflicts" and counterinsurgency.

McKiernan is an excellent general in the old mold. McChrystal, who rose through the ranks as a special-forces officer, is an excellent general in the new mold. He has also worked closely with Gates and Petraeus. (In his press conference, Gates referred to McChrystal's "unique skill set in counterinsurgency.") For the past year, McChrystal has been director of the Pentagon's Joint Staff. More pertinently, for five years before that, he was commander of the Joint Special Operations Command, a highly secretive operation that hunted down and killed key jihadist fighters, including, most sensationally, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the leader of al-Qaida in Iraq.

Last fall, Bob Woodward reported in the Washington Post that JSOC played a crucial, unsung role in the tactical success of the Iraqi "surge." Using techniques of what McChrystal called "collaborative warfare," JSOC combined intelligence intercepts with quick, precision strikes to "eliminate" large numbers of key insurgent leaders.

This appointment will not be without controversy. McChrystal's command also provided the personnel for Task Force 6-26, an elite unit of 1,000 special-ops forces that engaged in harsh interrogation of detainees in Camp Nama as far back as 2003. The interrogations were so harsh that five Army officers were convicted on charges of abuse. (McChrystal himself was not implicated in the excesses, but the unit's slogan, which set the tone for its practices, was "If you don't make them bleed, they can't prosecute for it.")

-edit-

Another take.

[Crazed Rabbit]

(McChrystal himself was not implicated in the excesses, but the unit's slogan, which set the tone for its practices, was "If you don't make them bleed, they can't prosecute for it.")[/indent]
[/URL]

That's the slogan of a group of government employees sworn to uphold the constitution? Anyone else a wee bit worried?

The White House said the recommended change came from the Pentagon.

So what did he do to make the pentagon want a special forces commander in place ?

So you're using the word of the white house as proof the white house didn't interfere?

Another thoughtful Economist article about our current Prez: (dealing with creditors)

*sigh* Such foolish shortsightedness...

CR

[Louis VI the Fat]

Meanwhile in Europe, Obama has returned to America its role as inspirational leader of the world.

[Crazed Rabbit]

Obama's press secretary slams critical articles from British press.

Ah, such great diplomacy, huh? Really spreading love and the like around the world, isn't he? So classy too, suggesting the press are liars when they don't like you.

CR

[Xiahou]

Government run banks? Check.
Government run auto industry? Check.
Government run healthcare? Coming soon.

The president a month ago forced Rick Wagoner out as GM's CEO. The Treasury Department dictated what bondholders should get for the $27 billion they held in GM debt. Obama's team determined that GM needed to downsize so that it could break even if auto industry car sales remain at 10 million vehicles a year, instead of the 16 million auto sales threshold it needs today.

And on Treasury's instructions, GM will replace a majority of its board members in consultation with the Obama administration.

Obama isn't interested in getting the federal government into the auto industry- nope. It'll just have GM's CEO fired and replaced with one of their choosing. It'll write GM's bankruptcy deal, and it'll choose GM's new board. Totally different from being in the auto industry though.

So, does anyone see GM returning to profitability in the forseeable future or is it now just an expensive UAW welfare program?

[Incongruous]

Obama's press secretary slams critical articles from British press.

Ah, such great diplomacy, huh? Really spreading love and the like around the world, isn't he? So classy too, suggesting the press are liars when they don't like you.

CR

While I agree that it was not very classy or diplomatic, he had a point, the British press is in general, bollox. That reply from The Telegraph made me laugh, "take on the status quo in Washington"

Obama's team is gonna need to learn a bit quicker tha this, or else it will only serve what will doubtless sonn be a growing sense of resentment.