Photo by Pete Souza, The White House file
From Denny: Well, the hot dogs at the Pentagon have done it again. Ever since President Obama took office they have been playing games to find out how much pressure they can exert with Obama since they want the wars to continue into infinity. Today they lost the bet. President Obama is non-stop furious about McChrystal's idiot crude remarks.
Are you ready for this? It was a civilian member of the general's public relations team, Duncan Boothby, who set up the McChrystal interview with Rolling Stone Magazine in the first place. All that says to me is that the entire Pentagon culture is corrupt. It's time for Obama to clean house from the top down, starting with the entire room of the Joint Chiefs of Staff for tolerating this garbage. They are supposed to be the leaders. In reality they are guilty of treason during a time of war for disrespecting the President and disobeying his policies.
On Obama's part he has been far too naive about his military brass who are arrogant asses almost to a man. The current generals in charge of the war are nothing but Bush leftovers. Why did Obama actually think this den of snakes would be loyal to him in the first place? Hire an entirely new group, Mr. President. President Lincoln sure went through his fair share of generals during the Civil War.
What about McChrystal? Well, we all know the military are big on telling everyone they aren't quitters. The problem is that the latest troop build-up six months ago has not yielded significant improvements in Afghanistan. The problem is that McChrystal and his staff have been involved in this war for nine years now, the longest war in American history, an unproductive war.
The problem is that the general wants out because he can no longer come up with any good ideas of how to win this war. But since he can't look like a quitter he had to figure out a way to get the President to dismiss him. Easy, says the public relations team, just embarrass the President.
How do you do that? Easy, says the public relations team, just go get one of those loose cannon reporter types from Rolling Stone Magazine and let's bring him into our world. All we have to do is turn him loose to report as he pleases. And so he did, unvarnished reporting that revealed the military's bad attitude toward civilian government and civilian Presidents in particular. That's otherwise known as insubordination.
McChrystal was reported as trash talking the entire administration like calling one Obama official a "clown" and another characterized as a "wounded animal." Those are the clean versions for print. McChrystal himself "flew the finger eagle" to Obama about talking to France, our last remaining ally, to stay in the war. McChrystal jeered Obama's order as stupid. The general and his staff thought nothing of disrespecting Vice President Biden too, a man who has been an incredible supporter of the military for decades. Talk about bite the hand that feeds you.
Does it look like this military general has had it too easy for too long? My husband is so furious at this insubordination that he thinks Obama should not stop at just firing the fool. He thinks he should also bust him down to private where he would have to be under the command of other fools who abuse their power and step over the line of what authority they truly are allowed like he clearly has.
He should not be allowed to retire as a general after slamming the very civilian taxpayers who would be paying for that retirement. It's especially grating during this time of home foreclosures, extreme job loss, underemployment and the like to see a spoiled brat scenario play out from a member of our military. The time of all these special perks for the military need to end. They are arrogant and continue to harbor bad attitudes toward those who supply well paid retirements and perks. With more outbursts like this those days may come to an end for the entire military faster than they thought possible. America has a short fuse right now in this down economy. We are tired of suffering fools gladly.
Me? Firing McChrystal would be too nice in my book. Allowing him to retire would let the general off too easy where he will just get hired by some GOP think tank paying him a high salary. I think the guy should be busted down to Master Sargent and not allowed to retire for another 15 years. Let's see how tough he is now.
Gen. Stanley McChrystal has chafed since his first meeting with President Obama when he took office. Already, they are taking bets at the Pentagon for who will succeed the general as they say he is definitely road kill now. The word from McChrystal's colleagues is that he is an alcoholic and has been on self-destruct for 15 years now. A sad ending for someone who graduated West Point.
At the time of this writing, McChrystal is flying back from Afghanistan. He is expected at the White House tomorrow for a meeting with the President. Even Pentagon insiders advise McChrystal he should have a letter of resignation in his pocket - and give it to the President whether he asks for it or not.
My advice to the President? Accept his resignation and move on to better people to serve you and the people of America. It's time for the cowboy culture to be sidelined for good as it creates more problems than it solves.
*** UPDATE: 23 June 2010 at 2 PM - Gen. McChrystal relieved of duty after meeting with the President. Gen. Petraeus will assume duties in Afghanistan. He's the guy who practically wrote the book on counter-insurgency of which McChrystal was supposed to be an expert.
General's future in the balance after remarks - McChrystal's summoned for White House meeting after explosive article
President Obama was described as "furious" about the remarks while the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Adm. Mike Mullen, told McChrystal of his "deep disappointment" in a conversation late Monday, a spokesman said.
"Gen. McChrystal has apologized to me and is similarly reaching out to others named in this article to apologize to them as well," Gates said in a statement.
Opinion: The McChrystal Fallout
McChrystal Ordered to W.H. to Explain Critique - Top U.S. Commander in Afghanistan Offers "Sincerest Apology" for Bashing Administration in Rolling Stone Interview
The Runaway General (Rolling Stone Magazine article) - Stanley McChrystal, Obama's top commander in Afghanistan, has seized control of the war by never taking his eye off the real enemy: The wimps in the White House
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