Posted on 06/26/2010 9:02:13 PM PDT by ErnstStavroBlofeld
President Obama fired his commander in Afghanistan after the general and his staff made intemperate comments about administration officials that appeared in a magazine article. But what was behind the disparaging comments? They may be symptomatic of a deeper frustration with the conduct of the U.S. effort in Afghanistan.
By themselves, the comments by General Stanley McChrystal and his aides, made in the presence of a reporter from Rolling Stone magazine, are harsh. One aide calls National Security Advisor General James Jones a clown. Another rude comment is directed at Vice President Biden. General McChrystal himself speaks disparagingly of special envoy on Afghanistan and Pakistan Richard Holbrooke, when he bemoans the receipt of another email from the diplomat, and also makes derisive comments about U.S. Ambassador to AFghanistan Karl Eikenberry. And he says he did not connect with President Obama.
It could be, as some analysts have suggested, that General McChrystal and his aides were expressing a contempt for civilian authority held by some members of the military. But Retired General Barry McCaffrey says they were venting a deeper sense of frustration. Unfortunately for General McChrystal, they did it with a reporter around.
"The policy surrounding them has been too unstructured, too incoherent, too little commitment. What's the responsibility of Ambassador Holbrooke, of Eikenberry, of the various free agents in this whole process? So I think they got frustrated. And then they forgot that they weren't a group of commandos talking bad about the Marines or something. They were talking about their own chain of command," said McCaffrey
(Excerpt) Read more at 1.voanews.com ...
Reason simple.
Problems over there.
Military leadership requests to fix problems ignored by Admin, prompting military to make remarks in frustration.
Admin then shoots messenger.
Obama and Biden’s egos getting an owie were far more important to them than the elephant in the room which was the cause of the military’s remarks.
Anyway, in the finest traditions of blinding incompetence, the warrior got canned and the dorks stay.
Petraeus got actualy a demotion for being moved to Afghanistan. He was slated for a higher job.
McChrystal’s policies were getting our soldiers killed! I’m glad he is gone and hope that the ROE’s are changed.
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