^ Unfortunately for Gen. McChrystal its too late for the buttoned lip strategy…
Some military leaders are totally the movie. They are uncomfortable around people who don’t wear their uniform. I used to think it was because there was some ghey oath they all take. You know, ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’? That may be only part of the reason. The main reason is that these people are generally anti-social pricks. I mean, if your business model is essentially to kill, maim and capitalize people’s lives you’re clock is off a few clicks. I suppose the world turns with everyone having their own personal moral compass for direction and mental clock to let them know what time it really is.
Maybe that is the real reason that U.S. General Stanley McChrystal spazzed out at length in front of a Rolling Stone reporter about the administration in D.C., the war in Afghanistan, and just everything in general. Life is far too short to remain as wound up as he was and not have some epic calamitous spin out. Speaking of the war in Afghanistan… It sux. Thank God for British Petroleum’s Gulf debacle of the microscope would have been deeper into the ass of the failed strategy in Afghanistan. Recently the Pentagon informed us that there was trillions of dollars of mineral resources in Afghan soil. And they weren’t even talking about heroin.
The President relieves General McChrystal of his post in Afghanistan. The general can now return to his wife of 33 years and take her on dates to White Castke or Jack In The Box or wherever rich people go to appear normal. In the meantime and in between time more American lives are being committed to the mountains of Kabul and Khandahar with no end in sight. Maybe that will be the subject of the general’s upcoming speaking engagements alongside Sarah Palin no doubt.
Going ‘rogue’ is the new Black.
Crazy…
The McChrystal situation is crazy, but I can’t turn away from the beginning stages of what is already called the worst environmetal disaster ever (BP spill). It’s morbidly interesting to watch the BP oil spill, simply because I know the actual horror hasn’t even begun yet.
& so far, one man has committed suicide behind it. Just saying.
I wish the President would have made McChrystal keep working under him, humiliated and broken. I don’t think he would’ve liked serving and having to keep his stupid mouth closed. Still, I understand the administration’s decision to not hand the keys to the world’s biggest war machine (no James Rhodes) to a undermining jackass who wasn’t smart enough to not mouth off about his boss to a reporter.
@Mark Dub
Actually, what I didn’t want him to do was try & prove that point, & I agree that McChrystal wouldn’t have drawn the parallel. It wouldve been pointless.
Better to be rid of a man who second guesses & undermines. Also, intentions aside, keeping him would’ve made him appear even weaker than people think already. I think he did the right thing.
Co-sign TG #1; the Gulf situation is awful and while I blame BP first, the BO administration has not looked good. I’m pretty sure I ranted the first week or two about Obama NOT going to the Gulf– that’s all the proof anyone needs showing how out of touch he and his advisors were.
Also, Mark & Tony, I think it’s important to consider…
Undermine fucking what, precisely? An Obamastan policy that was nonsense to begin with?
McChrystal loses points for any apology, otherwise it’s good to know where he’s coming from– and equally good to be rid of him; if the guy shows this poor of judgement here, what other fuck-ups has he done we have no idea of because they’re veiled in military secrecy?
In fact, it seems he did Obama a HUGE favor; I just hope Obama is smart enough to recognize that, and balls enough to admit the Afghan escalation was a fraud from the start.
More–
http://counterpunch.org/roberts06242010.html
Willis-
I just mean undermining the “opinion” & effort of the president. From a worldly standpoint, it just looked real bad. I say that unbiasedly, because I’m not deep into the clash between civil/military command, but just an overall view of the situation.
The Afghan escalation borne from the Bush surge in Iraq. I think this was a trick that was perpetuated with bogus stats. Iraq isn’t more stable or even safer. The people popping shit off just need to get their paper back up to buy more IEDs.
The failure of the Obaama admin NOT to pull our troops from Afghanistan was the admin’s 808s & heartbreak. Really it was mostly just heartbreak. That Afghan war is ending up just like Russia’s invasion back in the 80s.
Barry Obams is shaping up to be more Carteresque than imagined. I think BOs greater legacy will be when he’s not president but more of an international figure that can align and integrate himself with causes and fights that he’s better equipped to fight. I’d still like to see BO keep it hella Southside Chitown and request a secret meeting with Jeff Fort & Larry Hoover up in Florence and discuss war strategy.
@Willis – read that Franklin Ave Posse book this week. Would love to discuss at length with you if you have any epilogue or follow up.
@ TG, I agree that it is better to be rid of the clown for the same reason. I just wanted further humiliation for McChrystal. He demanded more troops of the President when he was already mismanaging that which he had. BO tried to listen to his troops on the ground, only to be undermined by an incompetent warhawk who was clearly in over his head.
As soon as dude opened his mouth (II) I knew he was outtie.