Posted on 06/24/2010 6:54:53 AM PDT by tobyhill
General Stanley McChrystal was the right man for Afghanistan. He was one of the few in the top military ranks who understood counterinsurgency. Unfortunately, he had to go and spoil it all. He and his staff had a mass stupidity attack and shot off their mouths to a freelance Rolling Stone reporter who gleefully printed critical comments about President Obama, Obama’s special envoy Richard Holbrooke and Ambassador Karl Eikenberry. McChrystal has done stupid things with the press before, so his relief of command was required.
I can only wonder why generals do such things. This reminds me of 1990, when US Air Force chief of staff General Michael Dugan told journalists how the Air Force was going to win the Gulf War alone and how the Israelis were helping the Americans with intelligence. In one stroke he offended both the US military and the Arab allies who were critical for the war effort. He was sacked immediately and rightly so.
Perhaps when you reach four-star rank or high political status you are surrounded by so many sycophants that you lose your sense of perspective. Perhaps top generals and political appointees believe they are so indispensible that they can do anything they want. In any case, a young journalist – certainly no Bob Woodward – found it easy to pry some amazing comments out of McChrystal and his staff.
(Excerpt) Read more at blogs.telegraph.co.uk ...
Clueless NOT!! They loath and distrust their enemy. It is their intent to turn this force against all oppositon; foreign and domestic. Ignore and dismiss them as stupid or ignorant at your peril. They want Janissaries, loyal soldiers who fight for them against themselves.
Absolutely Correct! What would be stupid, or clueless, if one were trying to help is a wise move for one intent on destruction.
Should have ommitted the words after ‘is’, this fits him to a tee.
Red Badger, that is a BRILLIANT observation.
And for all the right reasons, too. Very thought provoking...I could easily see them high fiving each other (you know they are at Rolling Stone) and I could even see him behind closed doors gloating.
He may be an evil jackass who knows nothing about fiscal policy, the military or the Constitution, but he understands slimy politics. He knows, if they were ever seen doing that, it would be toxic.
Most Americans still love their country and want to see it succeed.
Not only that, they are clueless about private sector employment.
None of them have ever lived in the real world.
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