Posted on 12/07/2009 12:55:23 PM PST by markomalley
Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the U.S. commander in Afghanistan, goes before Congress this week, and with him comes this question: Who’s really in charge here, the generals or President Barack Obama?
The long-awaited hearings, beginning Tuesday before the House and Senate Armed Services committees, are a bookend of sorts to Obama’s address last Tuesday at West Point committing 30,000 more troops to the war effort in Afghanistan. Implicit in the president’s decision is an effective cap of about 100,000 for the American force, but top Democrats fear that unless Obama is more assertive, the military chain of command will undermine his July 2011 target to begin some U.S. withdrawal.
“The president’s decision is already being softened and made mush of,” Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin (D-Mich.) told POLITICO. And within the House and Senate Appropriations committees, senior Democrats — themselves veterans of past wars — have grown increasingly concerned by the political clout of a generation of younger, often press-savvy military commanders.
(snip)
“I’ve always believed that the president of the United States is the commander in chief,” said Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii), who was awarded the Medal of Honor in World War II. “It concerns me when I see my president, the commander in chief, having to debate with generals. They can do that privately, but he should be able to say to General A, ‘This is the way we’re going to do our business.’ ... I would expect generals to advise the president but not to go public.”
(Excerpt) Read more at politico.com ...
If Congress had wanted a Commander-in-Chief they shouldn’t have put their trust in a little boy.
I thought it was the People. Silly me.
The hypocrisy of the Political Left knows no bounds.
If we want to win, the Generals.
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Got it Senator, he’s the Commander in Chief. My boss gives an order I execute. No issue.
However, a good commander (see if you can find the operative word) allows the Officer to execute in the most efficient effective way possible while still following the Commander’s Intent.
Another note, The rank of COL and above...its all political, not necessarily looking forward to that aspect
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