Gen. McChrystal is outranked by the commander who wears no stars (Cohen abandons Afghan boycott)

New York Daily News ^ | Tuesday, October 27th 2009 | Richard Cohen

[presidio9]

Years ago, I bought an old Time magazine - the issue with the 1965 Man of the Year on the cover. I kept it around to remind me both of the fallibility of men, and, even, of Time magazine. It was of Gen. William Westmoreland. He was the Vietnam era's Gen. Stanley McChrystal.

[OldDeckHand]

"it was of Gen. William Westmoreland. He was the Vietnam era's Gen. Stanley McChrystal."

Stopped reading right there. That's all I need to hear of Mr. Cohen's screed. What a dipsh!t.

[randomhero97]

It is my understanding that Westmoreland wanted to pound the North into oblivion.

[Skywarner]

"...McChrystal is a fitness buff, the sort of disciplined man less disciplined men admire both out of senses of awe and insufficiency."

Would that include less disciplined men such as the author himself?

Cohen's article is an affront to the paper it's printed upon. Hell, even the ink is offended.

[y6162]

I hope McChrystal and Petraeus resign when General John F-ing Kerry advises the Kenyan to half measures. Cohen can suck on the that.

[Blood of Tyrants]

And Johnson wanted to appease them.

[the anti-liberal]

^for good reason outranked by one who wears no stars at all^

Given who that person wearing no stars is, this is so disturbing I can't come up with an adequate response.

[rbg81]

Westmoreland was an utter failure, .....

---

Yeah, sure he was. [/s] If Johnson wan’t intefering on a daily basis (like making decision on which targets to bomb), how could would the war have turned out? I guess we’ll never know. The fact is that the Tet Offensive was a military disaster for the VC, but a propaganda victory. South Vietnam fell to a full scale invasion by the North, and we stood by and watched. The enemy never beat us in Vietnam, we lost our never and beat ourselves.

[BilLies]

Do you notice that no one ever mentions:
“On January 22, 2009, Holbrooke was appointed as a special adviser on Pakistan and Afghanistan, working under President of the United States Barack Obama and United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.” Had a lot to say when George W was president.

[BilLies]

Do you notice that no one ever mentions:
“On January 22, 2009, Holbrooke was appointed as a special adviser on Pakistan and Afghanistan, working under President of the United States Barack Obama and United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.” Had a lot to say when George W was president.

[BilLies]

sorry for the double post, slow machine?

[elpadre]

No one should ever forget that Vietnam was lost in Washington, D.C. The advance party for today's Congress pulled he rug out from under Westmoreland and the troops.

[HANG THE EXPENSE]

I would like to have this commie bastard tell me to my face that General Westmoreland was an utter failure.

[CapnJack]

Listening to the retired military men at my sportsman’s club down on the outdoor range talk about Westmoreland when the subject came up. I heard more than once that Westmoreland said he could win the fight in 3 months if given the equipment and full authority to use it.

I'm sure that that was a bit ambitious, but maybe 6 months was all he needed to finish off the war.

If that had happened, does anyone here believe that Pol Pot would have ever come into existence and slaughtered the people of Cambodia like he did? Or the purge of South Vietnamese would have ever happened after the North took over?

[xkaydet65]

Actually Cohen admits as much in this column. I wonder if he is aware that he said Congress was responsible for the Communist victory?

[GoCards]

Yea, whats up with Kerry? He is everywhere making noise. He is a schmuck.

[timydnuc]

I served under General William Westmoreland. He was a brilliant General. We were winning in Nam. That commander in chief was a 5 star idiot. Lyndon Baines Johnson....boob, extraordinaire. Men died because he wanted to micromanage a war he had no idea how to win. It took Nixon, yes Nixon, to win the war. Then the RATS, in congress, defunded the South Vietnamese and gave that country to the communists. Debasing every life ever given for that cause. Many of them my friends.

Dirty bastards!

[Harley]

Cohen is about as uneducated as a journalist can be. I wonder if you asked him who the National Command Authority (NCA) is he would know? The President and the Secretary of Defense are the NCA. They are the final authority on command and control of the military. The buck stops with them. Except Obama is trying to change that to The Buck Starts With Me. So many starts and stops in the Vietnam war because of people like LBJ. A war that could and would have been won if LBJ and his minions would have set the goal, the strategy and let the military make it happen.

[lacrew]

I suggest reading the article. It is a portal into the liberal mindset. Cohen is worried if the Messiah would head ‘into political ruin’ like Johnson. Nowhere does he mention achieving military victory. Their mindset scares the hell out of me....they really don’t give a rat’s behind about the people serving over there.

[TomasUSMC]

Instead of a President who

tells our troops - how well he will take care of them, how he will think about it very hard, before he commits them to war

we instead need

Someone like Reagan who

tells our enemies - how totally he will annihilate them, how he will bomb and shell and destroy them utterly - and thus encourage and raise the spirits of our troops as they go to war