America's Top Commander Exposes Obama Administration Incompetence; Walks It Back

[Beskar]

Kukri's right; it was inappropriate for the General to make this remarks in a public setting. The mind boggles at why he said this to a reporter.

Probably a gun-ho Republican trying to give his party a boost in the November elections.

[Vladimir]

Probably a gun-ho Republican trying to give his party a boost in the November elections.

Supposedly he voted for the Big O, but who knows. I don't think he would throw away his military career for mid-term election.

[Lemur]

Probably a gun-ho Republican trying to give his party a boost in the November elections.

There is zero evidence of this scenario, and many reasons to believe it's off the mark.

McChrystal has put President 44 in an uncomfortable conundrum, though:

Obama might wish he could overlook it. McChrystal was his choice, part of his seizing ownership of the war. [...] But how can Obama let this go and retain his own authority?

If he sacks [McChrystal], he removes the officer he has been describing as uniquely qualified to do the job, which sets back the mission and calls the president's own judgment into question. If he leaves him in charge, he looks weak, affirming a gathering line of criticism. That is the dilemma McChrystal has created: in either case, Obama loses. On balance, I think, the best thing would have been for McChrystal to offer his resignation publicly and immediately, and for Obama to refuse it with a final warning to shut up. That opportunity has already slipped by.

Needless to say, the timing is as bad as could be.

[Seamus Fermanagh]

Needless to say, the timing is as bad as could be.

And guess who catches it hardest either way? Right in one! The P.B.I.

[Hosakawa Tito]

- Georges Clemenceau

- KukriKhan

What was General Mac thinking? That a Rolling Stone freelancer was his buddy, best pal? Fight the damned war, Sir. Leave teh politics to teh poli's.

I thought that he was if nothing else a very clever individual. He's senior enough to be aware of the press and associated risks.

Either this was a monumental lapse of judgement, or he's thought it through and has a strategy.

General Mac very well knows the military protocol of using the chain of command
for his concerns/complaints/requests. Heck even a Private figures that out pretty quick, usually with the aid of his Staff Sergeant's boot up his backside on the first offense. Naw, one doesn't rise through the Special Ops ranks to General and naively throw dirty laundry into the street. Could he be delusional enough to think he has the hero worship stature of Truman's Mac and be indespensible?I doubt it. Maybe Mac no longer feels the mission is doable in the year he has left before the troop drawdown begins. Hard to know really, but time will tell. Unless there are unreconcilable differences I think Obama will try and patch this up instead of asking for his resignation.

[Centurion1]

Your "anecdote" lemur was not informative military officers are people with their own opinions They are also tax payer an voters they are entitled to their opinions.

Do you think civilian control of a military is a good thing! It is anything but when doctrine and tactics, campaigns and appointments are controlled by a civilian bad uh... stuff goes down

[Lemur]

Why the "scare quotes" around "anecdote"? Are you suggesting that the "text" that I "quoted" was not, in fact, "anecdotal"? Or are you just unclear on the use of "quotes"?

If you don't like civilian control of the armed forces, you're gonna hate the U.S.A. They've been doing that since, like, the founding. It's insane!

Meanwhile:

None of [the quotes from Gibbs] sounds like a White House that’s ready to scrap its counterinsurgency strategy in the year to go before it begins to shift to a heavier focus on training Afghan forces and withdrawing troops. But McChrystal will have to reiterate his commitment tomorrow to working with the team that, in many ways, signed onto a strategy he himself largely convinced the president to support. “This is bigger than anybody on the military or the civilian side,” Gibbs said. Translation: McChrystal can go or stay, but the strategy has been set. And that may be the greatest irony of the entire McChrystal imbroglio.

[KukriKhan]

Ahhh, the Tillman case. THAT's where I've heard this guy's name before.

My sympathy-o-meter has bottomed out.