General McChrystal fired by President Obama

[Big Lutz]

So this broke last night on the political blogs, Rolling Stone did a interview with General Stanley McChrystal, the man essentially in charge with running Afghanistan. The result was a scathing interview of the Obama Administration from the top down, and he wasn't alone, his aides were also making the same remarks.

Taking the advice of both the Pentagon and the Joint Chiefs of Staff, he also fired Gen. David McKiernan – then the U.S. and NATO commander in Afghanistan – and replaced him with a man he didn’t know and had met only briefly: Gen. Stanley McChrystal. It was the first time a top general had been relieved from duty during wartime in more than 50 years, since Harry Truman fired Gen. Douglas MacArthur at the height of the Korean War.

Even though he had voted for Obama, McChrystal and his new commander in chief failed from the outset to connect. The general first encountered Obama a week after he took office, when the president met with a dozen senior military officials in a room at the Pentagon known as the Tank. According to sources familiar with the meeting, McChrystal thought Obama looked “uncomfortable and intimidated” by the roomful of military brass. Their first one-on-one meeting took place in the Oval Office four months later, after McChrystal got the Afghanistan job, and it didn’t go much better.

“It was a 10-minute photo op,” says an adviser to McChrystal. “Obama clearly didn’t know anything about him, who he was. Here’s the guy who’s going to run his fucking war, but he didn’t seem very engaged. The Boss was pretty disappointed.”

Now, flipping through printout cards of his speech in Paris, McChrystal wonders aloud what Biden question he might get today, and how he should respond. “I never know what’s going to pop out until I’m up there, that’s the problem,” he says. Then, unable to help themselves, he and
his staff imagine the general dismissing the vice president with a good one-liner.

“Are you asking about Vice President Biden?” McChrystal says with a laugh. “Who’s that?”

“Biden?” suggests a top adviser. “Did you say: Bite Me?”

McChrystal reserves special skepticism for Holbrooke, the official in charge of reintegrating the Taliban. “The Boss says he’s like a wounded animal,” says a member of the general’s team. “Holbrooke keeps hearing rumors that he’s going to get fired, so that makes him dangerous. He’s a brilliant guy, but he just comes in, pulls on a lever, whatever he can grasp onto. But this is COIN, and you can’t just have someone yanking on shit.”

At one point on his trip to Paris, McChrystal checks his BlackBerry. “Oh, not another e-mail from Holbrooke,” he groans. “I don’t even want to open it.” He clicks on the message and reads the salutation out loud, then stuffs the BlackBerry back in his pocket, not bothering to conceal his annoyance.
“Make sure you don’t get any of that on your leg,” an aide jokes, referring to the e-mail.

Byron York interviewed a retured military man about this, and found that McChrystal was a powderkeg waiting to blow.

I just got off the phone with a retired military man, with more than 25 years experience, who has worked with Gen. Stanley McChrystal in the Pentagon. His reaction to McChrystal’s performance in the new Rolling Stone profile? No surprise at all.

“Those of us who knew him would unanimously tell you that this was just a matter of time,” the man says. “He talks this way all the time. I’m surprised it took this long for it to rear its ugly head."

When Mac Arther and Patton came out publically against the civilian leadership while in command they were fired, and rightfully so. Such things are saved for memoirs or congressional runs, NOT while you are in command of forces. The man should be fired and fired immediately, for this type of stupidity and the stupidity he fostered under his aides.

But... there is a problem. With Obama's set timeline for Afghanistan, firing McChrystal would have to cause Obama to scrap the timeline all together, worse yet the only clear replacement would be covincing David Petraeus to return to field command because of his understanding of COIN.

In turn we cannot just leave the war, after the Time Square Bombing we cannot allow for the Taliban to grow stronger and stronger when they have shown they are willing to strike out at us. And the discovery of large mineral deposits in Afghanistan could finally turn their economy off of drugs. The only problem is that we have a man in charge who should not be.

 

[Caitlin]

Re: Top US General acts REALLY Stupid

I don't see what the big deal is. I didn't know that when you were appointed to command forces in a war zone, you were suddenly stripped of the ability to have a negative opinion about the president.

To be fired for calling the president "uncomfortable in a room full of military brass" is completely unacceptable. There HAS to be something deeper to this that the White House is onto but they're not releasing to the public.

As it stands for me, it just looks like Obama got his feelings hurt and is bringing down the banhammer.

 

[evkl]

Re: Top US General acts REALLY Stupid

Actually, Katelynn, by being part of the armed forces you're stripped of that ability (at least, to say it in public

“Any commissioned officer who uses contemptuous words against the President, the Vice President, Congress, the Secretary of Defense, the Secretary of a military department, the Secretary of Transportation, or the Governor or legislature of any State, Territory, Commonwealth, or possession in which he is on duty or present shall be punished as a court-martial may direct.”

 

[Caitlin]

Re: Top US General acts REALLY Stupid

Ah. Alright then. Still seems a bit ridiculous, but I won't argue against military regulations.

 

[Fig]

Re: Top US General acts REALLY Stupid

Yeah, not an easy dilemma to solve, that.

He definitely deserves slapped hard, but who else can you put in charge in Afghanville?

 

[Phoenicks]

Re: Top US General acts REALLY Stupid

Another reinforcement of the "Cowboy Military Man" stereotype.

 

[TTEchidna]

Re: Top US General acts REALLY Stupid

Well this is totally the type of guy we need in charge of Afghanistan, right? Someone who doesn't even respect the President. Seems like the kind of guy you'd get in one of those third world countries who doesn't like that the elections ended up with a guy who won fair and square, but doesn't agree with him.

 

[Champion Lance]

Re: Top US General acts REALLY Stupid

Yeah, not an easy dilemma to solve, that.

He definitely deserves slapped hard, but who else can you put in charge in Afghanville?

After reading the entire article in question, I ended up being more concerned about the general's ability to properly execute COIN in Afghanistan. Considering how he's deliberately sabotaged State Department leadership in the area and manuevered himself to be the proconsul of all American forces, his attitudes towards civilians becomes absolutely paramount. He has little respect for the diplomatic establishment and his primary tactic seems to be throwing troops and money at the problem, which does nothing but increase discontent and further erode our position in Afghanistan.

He's better than McKiernan was in that he realizes that for each civilian casualty, ten new insurgents are born--but he's still running casualty-heavy ops. It's a disaster. Combine this with the asylum that constitutes his staff, well... I don't care that they're experts in their fields, frankly.

His attitude towards our own allies is disgusting. While he spends time buttressing that idiot Karzai (which is probably sensible, sadly), he alienates our French allies while on a diplomatic junket. Why? What's the purpose?

So criminal conduct aside (and yes, violating this provision of the Uniform Code of Military Justice IS a court martial offense), he's also a terrible general.

 

[evkl]

Re: Top US General acts REALLY Stupid

News is breaking that McChrystal is out and will be replaced by Petraeus.

 

[Big Lutz]

Re: Top US General acts REALLY Stupid

Beat me to it evkl. I wonder what happened in there, and while I am happy to see Gen. David Petraeus back in action after all the good he did in Iraq. I wonder if Obama made up his mind before McChrystal got there. If so why send him all the way up to the White House? To dress him down and then kick him out? Wouldn't that be done better over the phone? Either way I am VERY glad to see Petraeus back.

 

[RavenKingSage]

Re: Top US General acts REALLY Stupid

Beat me to it evkl. I wonder what happened in there, and while I am happy to see Gen. David Petraeus back in action after all the good he did in Iraq. I wonder if Obama made up his mind before McChrystal got there. If so why send him all the way up to the White House? To dress him down and then kick him out? Wouldn't that be done better over the phone? Either way I am VERY glad to see Petraeus back.

Pretty much all of this. It actually makes me glad that McChrystal got himself fired.

 

[fate]

Re: Top US General acts REALLY Stupid

Was that "Biden - Bite me" thing supposed to be funny? That was a really bad joke... they sound nothing alike! If you're gonna get fired over something like that, you need to make it a classic!

 

[Fig]

Re: Top US General acts REALLY Stupid

I'm going to guess that he probably had a pretty good idea what he was going to do before McChrystal got there, but was ready to change his mind should McChrystal give him a very convincing reason to.

At least it's how I'd have done it. Plan ahead, but stay flexible.

 

[Netto Azure]

Re: General McChristal fired by President Obama

Well, he's been fired a few hours ago. But yeah, the CentCom Commander is now the new Af-Pak Commander apparently. :U

 

[hurristat]

Re: General McChristal fired by President Obama

I'm not surprised he was fired after what he said -- there's a time and place for everything, especially in the military -- and Rolling Stone is not the place.

 

[Big Lutz]

Re: General McChristal fired by President Obama

I am kind of curious as to who signed off on even giving Rolling Stone access to General Mc Christal. Any type of access or reporting from Afghanistan has to go through the Pentagon, and Rolling Stone's support or lack of support for any war America has been in for the last 40 years is well known. They had to know that Rolling Stone was not going over there to write a flattering piece, but was digging for dirt. That doesn't excuse what the idiot General did, but I am just wondering what was going through the minds of the people who signed off on this, especially seeing how McCrhistal's problems have apparently been well known in the past.

 

[TTEchidna]

Re: General McChristal fired by President Obama

Kinda makes you wonder if the same mismanagement that led to this has led this war into going on ten years too long.

 

[evkl]

Re: General McChristal fired by President Obama

Kinda makes you wonder if the same mismanagement that led to this has led this war into going on ten years too long.

This is not a debate thread.

 

[Spirit of '55]

Re: General McChristal fired by President Obama

Having read McChrystal's comments, I was put in mind of SEVEN DAYS IN MAY. If I was President Obama, I wouldn't have fired that freak, I'd've hanged him up by his -:

"I fired him because he went against the Constitution. I didn't fire him because he's a stupid son of a B....., though he's that too, because that's not against the law. If it was, I'd have to fire half my generals."

---President Truman on firing Douglas MacArthur

The fact is that nobody can strip you of your opinions. Still, the General Commanding should be mature enough to keep his yap shut where yap-shutting is warranted. Given his status, he had the opportunity to vet this article before it went to print. He WANTED it to say what was quoted. The guy is a four-star idiot. Whoops, not no more.

 

[Phoenicks]

Re: General McChristal fired by President Obama

Kinda makes you wonder if the same mismanagement that led to this has led this war into going on ten years too long.

So to you the war should have lasted... negative one years?