Dear Leader furious at General McChrystal for showing…leadership
One word comes to mind when reading the account of how President Obama is “furious” with US General Stanley McChrystal over his speech on Afghanistan.
The word is “feckless.”
Via the Telegraph:
According to sources close to the administration, Gen McChrystal shocked and angered presidential advisers with the bluntness of a speech given in London last week. The next day he was summoned to an awkward 25-minute face-to-face meeting on board Air Force One on the tarmac in Copenhagen, where the president had arrived to tout Chicago’s unsuccessful Olympic bid.
Gen James Jones, the national security adviser, yesterday did little to allay the impression the meeting had been awkward.
Asked if the president had told the general to tone down his remarks, he told CBS: “I wasn’t there so I can’t answer that question. But it was an opportunity for them to get to know each other a little bit better. I am sure they exchanged direct views.”
An adviser to the administration said: “People aren’t sure whether McChrystal is being naïve or an upstart. To my mind he doesn’t seem ready for this Washington hard-ball and is just speaking his mind too plainly.”
In London, Gen McChrystal, who heads the 68,000 US troops in Afghanistan as well as the 100,000 Nato forces, flatly rejected proposals to switch to a strategy more reliant on drone missile strikes and special forces operations against al-Qaeda.He told the Institute of International and Strategic Studies that the formula, which is favoured by Vice-President Joe Biden, would lead to “Chaos-istan”.
When asked whether he would support it, he said: “The short answer is: No.”
He went on to say: “Waiting does not prolong a favorable outcome. This effort will not remain winnable indefinitely, and nor will public support.”
The remarks have been seen by some in the Obama administration as a barbed reference to the slow pace of debate within the White House.
Yes, Dear Leader furious at General McChrystal for showing…leadership.
JustOneMinute’s Tom Maguire is waiting, as are we all: Where is Obama’s plan?
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Obama can’t be bothered with non-profitable things like war to slow him done. He wants to be another Roman emperor and soak the country first. While our economy “burns”, he plays the fiddle, while the corruptocrats bank away their fortunes.
You have to remember that Teh Once wants the USA to lose.
When was the last time a liberal wanted the USA to win a war anyway? It seems to have been WWII – when the USA winning meant that the Soviet Union was saved.
He should resign his commission if Dear Leader is willing to accept a decades long slog without seeking victory.
Who would want to preside over brave young patriots dying for the folly of Obama?
McChrystal or Petraeus would both be strong candidates, minimum for the VP slot, if they publically resign their commission and slam TOTUS for his indifference to American lives.
As General McChrystal was protecting the interests of the United States of America and that of our Armed Forces, Obama was protecting the interests of his cronies in Chicago.
Typical.
i.e. The truth! Thats non-acceptable in the Obama admin!
I could see how McChrystal and Pratreus might resign if Obama keeps playing games with our troops safety.
During his campaign, he had a solution for everything. Turns out he had nothing but rhetoric and empty campaign promises – but we knew that when he was making the claims.
The term “emtpy suit” now has a picture to go with it.
And what, pray tell, is wrong with that?
Imagine that– someone responsible for the safety of Americans is more interested in making sure he is heard, and heard clearly, than in playing “Washington hard-ball.” Obama must be dumbfounded.
Does he think he’s playing Stratego in his dorm room?
Good articles on AT
Half a president
Barak the Beta male
General McChrystal is just that-a General. Obama is Commander In Chief and his boss. But I think General McChrystal is realizing Obama either does not have a plan or just does not really care. I do believe in good conscience I could not serve under Obama–he will waste our young people, our resources and what is left of our pride with his gutless lack of leadership.
If Generals McChrystal and Petraus make it to 2012 I will be surprised. If we are losing Obama would blame them, if we were winning Obama would be jealous. All light shines on He Who Won. There are always the Wesley K. Clark/Jim Jones types willing to be important and useless.
Uh huh. The administration thinks that McChrystal is naive or an upstart????? Maybe they should all look in the mirror.
Waking up and finding Obama for commander in chief is like finding yourself working for the boss’s idiot son.
And I am furious with the US President for not doing his job, thus causing the needless death of many more American soldiers.
But it is foolish as Barack goes socialist and finds ways to violate the constitution to alienate the US Military.
Chauncey put McChrystal in. It was Chauncey’s choice, and he aligned it to a vague strategy that is still not communicated.
He then proceeded to ignore the general. He doesn’t even KNOW McChrystal. We all know this to be true.
What does McChrystal have to lose by telling the truth? He can resign whenever he wants. He knows it, and Chauncey knows it. He’s leading for two basic reasons: honor and duty.
And therein lies the problem. Chauncey knows NOTHING about honor and duty.
He’s a cult of personality, and he’s running out of personality. Not good…
Hard-ball? Since when has anyone referred to anything the The B.O. has done as hard ball? I don’t think sports analogies are what the Obama-ites should be using.
This is similar to “I’m leaving to spend more time with my family.” The General knows just what an unqualified nincompoop The B.O. truly is. The General is too much of a patriot to just walk away from his command. He’s going to make The Pretender remove him. Unfortunately, that’s bad for everyone. Of course, The B.O. knows this and it’s why he’s acting like the horse’s @$$ he is.
I do not think it was appropriate for General McChrystal to be giving a speech in London. He put himself in a position where he had to publically state HIS position.
Frankly, that’s not appropriate at all.
He should give his positions and opinions to the civilian command authority, period. He has no public positions, becasue he is not autorized to have one. If he does not like what they decide, he can resign and then as a civilian speak out.
I am repeating previous commments, but two things: McChrystal is leading the troops while Soetoro is trying to sell Chicago to the Olympic comittee; and, the advisor to the administration is an idiot.
If I was the General. I would have whispered in the ear of obuma,
“I think you need to go back and read the oath you took to protect this nation you little sh!t. You’ll have my resignation on your desk before you get home”
Went to the link and read the article, and there is no mention that Pres Obama is furious with anyone for any reason.
Quoting the excerpt from the article, “Gen McChrystal shocked and angered presidential advisers with the bluntness of a speech given in London last week.”
Ummmm, it is the advisors that have issues with the General. An advisor was asked to characterized what Pres Obama thought of General McChrystal, and declined to do so.
Pres Obama very well might be furious with General McChrystal, but in no way does this story say so. Not every comment by every advisor should somehow be attributalble to the Pres.
Extrapolation and projection does not advance the arguement.
General Casey: But didn’t I always tell you honey, if I just stayed in place and never spoke up, good things are bound to happen.
Obviously, civilian “command authority” is not listening — and has not listened — to Gen McChrystal or anyone in the military.
That is, they haven’t listened to anyone in our military….
Now is the time for Osama Obama and everyone in the current line of succession to the presidency to resign before they can complete the disaster they’re sending us toward.
Or it’s time for someone in Congress to start the ball rolling and remove the Chicago Jesus and his thugs.
Americans are dying, and he twiddles his thumbs. That’s treason.
Flyoverman, General McChrystal made the address in London as Commander of NATO troops, quite appropriate. I don’t think that there is any confusion or indecisison among the military commanders when it come to Obambi’s failures as “Commander in Chief”. They know and most of them are willing to do what’s neccessary to protect their men and they will do their duty.
Flyoverman is right: “Americans are dying, and he twiddles his thumbs. That’s treason.” Either go in to win or get the hell out!
Z
Come on. You don’t really think that this many “advisors” say this without the ONE’s approval do you?
25 minutes is enough time for the O to chew the generals ass and nothing else.
Yep.
I remember one point, back in the early 70s, when the socialists’/elitists’/intellectuals’/entertainers’ enmity against, and scorn for, alpha males was more or less publicicized, when Alan Alda was put forth as the new type of male (not masculine) “sensitive” screen hero, replacing the John Wayne type.
After I posted this, I googled, and looky here:
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0876/is_n65/ai_13768205/
Yep, we seem to be stuck with beta males coming out of the woodwork.
flyoverman: You are right. He was out of line to make this speech. But I know why he did it. He did it because the CIC is ignoring this war all together. I think it was the only way he could think of to get the word out.
He knows his job is now doomed.
The GENERAL is being naive? The Obama Administration can make this dastardly claim after this weekend, as General McCrystal is writing letters home to the families of the murdered American soldiers from this weekend’s massive attack by the Taliban?
These idiots, even now, after having full and complete knowledge of EVERYTHING regarding the War Against Islamic Global Domination, are still operating with their emotions and how they perceive the world and those in it are, in their minds, supposed to live and be. They are literally closing their eyes to the dangerous realities of what is, and making decisions based on what the Liberal Utopian World is supposed to be.
They honestly believe their own crap, that we are the bad guys, that if we just show these homicidal lunatics that hey, we aren’t that bad and that we are all the same people under the skin just trying to get by on this big ol blue marble hurtling through time and space, that they will put aside their petty little greivances, join hands and sing “Kumbaya”! After all, Bush was evil, it was Bush who attacked, and it was Bush’s war and this is mmm…mmm…mmm…Barack Hussein Obama, who is smart, intelligent, has abs of steel, and, if they hadn’t heard, is the annointed one, Emperor of the World!
How dare this general say those things and act like these people are dangerous and need to be wiped out, that jail, especially with no more Club Gitmo, means nothing to them, that it is a published fact that they mock the drones that fly overhead and only understand one thing: victory or death, and will kill themselves to obtain a final victory, regardless of if it takes a thousand years.
How long will they dance on the razors edge of treason?
…Sorry.
After I had written the post, before actually posting it!
Apologies….
The only interest Obama had in Afghanistan was as a distraction to conservatives, a strategy Clinton was able to use with considerable success. The problem for Obama is that political costs are beginning to exceed the political benefits and like everyone in his party, he can only think in political terms. Whether it was appropriate for McChrystal to speak out publicly is debatable, but I am confident he knew the dangers and likely had already concluded he was on his way out.
One of the most unendurable aspects of the Obama Administration is its utter predictability. To Obama and his cronies Afghanistan and the American deaths there are simply a bore. If Obama can swat a fly why not this? Why can’t he just pull a Clinton and start sending in Monica missiles and bombing aspirin factories and be done with it? He wants to get out of Afghanistan to fight the real terrorists (right-wing critics) at home but he is finding it not so easy to do so. How he would love to pull a Waco, but the real world is a lot more complicated than his father (Jeremiah Wright) and his white mother (Bill Ayers) told him year-in, year-out that it was.
Maybe it’s just me, but somehow, I don’t think General McChrystal is the naive one.
This is just liberals showing their true colors and their hatred of the military yet again. They kept falsely claiming Afghanistan was the war they supported and that we should be there and not Iraq, but now they are forced to show that they were lying: They NEVER support the American military in any mission.
So our bratty narcissist-in-chief is “furious” that the military won’t buy his “strategy” of doing nothing and going on date nights on the same day when 10 soldiers are killed because of his inaction?
I hope the Dear Leader takes on General McCrystal and keeps insulting him by calling him an “upstart.” We know who the military and the public will support.
The British foreign minister on the other hand is furious at President Obama for his lack of commitment on the other hand.
The Foreign Secretary did not mention America by name but called on every government in the coalition to back troops, aid workers and diplomats in support of a clear plan. “We came into this together. We see it through — together,” he told the Labour conference in Brighton.
It looks like President Obama indecision is causing all of our allies to rethink theirs.
The fact that we have continued to allow an illegible usurper to “act” as Commander-in-Chief has led directly to the deaths of American service men and women.
When will more people take this issue seriously?
Obama admitted that he was born a British subject. How can a
natural born British subject be a natural born U.S. citizen?
Many fail to realize (or fail to believe) that a natural born U.S. citizen must have been born with U.S. citizenship (and only U.S. citizenship), by both birth location (jus soli) and by parentage (jus sanguinis).
But even those who fail to realize that, still realize that if fraud or deception has been involved in portraying the details of his birth, then that is a scandal bigger than Watergate.
What on earth made anyone think that Barack Hussein Obama was up to the task of being Commander in Chief? Where in his life did he devise, invent, manage, create, improve, or in any way demonstrate that he had ‘ the right stuff’ ? Never. He simply strolled through the doors held open for him by ‘affirmative action’. This man is a cardboard stand-up. His priorities are as perverse as his personal associations. If we get through this administration without being brought to our knees as a nation, we will be fortunate.
Political interference, pure and simple. This type of thinking, coming from those without actual combat experience, is what caused the Vietnam War to be lost, along with 50,000 military lives. It’s happening again…God help us, and especially our troops!
The Chicago elites can even manage the violent tendencies in their hometown, but think they have the answer to fighting a global war? This is more than dysfunction, it is delusion!
The morons in charge are going to cost us a plethora of military expertise, as scores of competent senior officers flee military service. And who can blame them?
Would an intelligent person risk becoming a “scapegoat” in the coming military debacle being orchastrated by the anti-military left now running the country. I wouldn’t.
Wow. “Washington hard ball????” I didn’t realize that the General was supposed to play politics with our troops lives…unlike what Barry is willing to do. Stand firm, General!
I would imagine our troops despise Barry.
Playing hard-ball politics is killing another generation of our best and brightest military men and women.
On October 5th, 2009 at 11:39 am, pokenhorn said:
I wrote the following over a year ago:
Obama’s clear lack of experience in any executive position (basically lack thereof) in the past is showing.
Last year I was asked by many co-workers why I wasn’t voting for Obama and I answered the same each time. He does not have experience and I thought that Presidents should have experience. ‘But, he’s like Kennedy” they would respond. I would say, “Kennedy fought in World War II, served in the Congress and Senate from 1946 to 1960.
Obama has been surounded by asskissers and weasels his whole life and dealing with a MAN like the General is a complete mystery to him. He can’t handle the truth.
The one big thing Obama doesn’t understand is that he is the top military commander (i.e. if there was a five star, it would be him). Sadly, Obama (and his cult), views our military as a pain in the butt. Once again, I have to say to the folks who voted for this guy, “What were you people thinking!!” I mean, all the signs about this guy were there!
puhleeese; the speechifier in chief is actually supposed to DO something. his only experience in life is impressing dumbasses with how smart he is, and organizing communist rabblerousers. not a great resume to lead anything mush less the free world.
SNL HIT IT RIGHT ON THE HEAD!
“Perhaps this is Obama’s JFK moment,” George Packer of the New Yorker wrote in his blog. “We’ll know in a few weeks.”
Obama has mistresses visit the White House? I did not know that.
Mr. Parker: Marilyn Monroe died years ago
He is beholden to his troops, our guys, not the part time college professor turned president.
When I saw him on 60 Minutes I said out loud he would be gone before Thanksgiving.
Unfortunately a tug of war (no pun) on this level goes to a president, sadly.
The One will slip in a dove from a Pentagon anteroom and ship the entire war effort to (gulp) Biden.
How friggin sad!
Obama has been busy lecturing Israeli generals on how they should do things so it should come as no surprise that Obama would tell American generals what to do. Neither Obama, Biden or either Clinton has any military experience. Bill Clinton even told Colonel Rock that “I loathe the military” but that does not stop any of them from abusing generals and admirals. Carter basically destroyed the US armed forces and then Clinton weakened them further and now Obama wants to finish the job.
Roger that!
Temper Tantrum in 3…2….1
Chaos-istan? That’s a perfect description forf Washington right now thanks to the socialist democrats running the country into the ground.
I have no doubt the general knew what he was doing. He knew if he made it clear that Obama has not been doing his job, he would get a meeting with him. In that meeting he can make it quite clear, who really holds the power in this country.
The President only has power granted by a constitution. Violate that constitution and that it is kaput.
In another thread, on October 5th, 2009 at 10:38 am, dkeppner said:
This is true leadership if you ask me. Gen McCrystal is laying his career on the line right now. By speaking out in this unprecedented way he is pretty much assuring that his career will not go any further (and will most likely be forced to resign in the end). What he is doing though is putting the welfare of the troops under him ahead of his own career and that is what true leadership is about. If he were to resign and go on a public speaking tour Obama would just appoint a General that agrees with his position, the press would for the most part ignore Gen McCrystal and the troops would be the ones to suffer in the end.
No doubt, Obama was just envious that McChrystal was able to speak without borrowing Obama’s TOTUS! The further we go, the more that the 2010 and 2012 elections look like complete slaughter.
***
There are a lot of good insight comments above. FLYOVERMAN gets it right–good military men should use the chain of command to tell the President what is going on and what is needed–once!
***
General Schwartzkof told President Bush 41 once when he was asked if the attack from Kuwait into Iraq should be stopped after the first 4 days. He said NO–Bush disagreed and stopped short of taking out Saddam Hussein and the Republican Guard. This guaranteed the second war to remove Saddam. The general didn’t go public until much later.
***
President Harry Truman–the last democrat president who won a war–fired General MacArthur for insubordination when the general “went public” on the need to nuke the million man Red Chinese Army building up on the China / North Korean border. The general was right–but the decision was Truman’s to make. Harry had to do what seemed smart to him at the time–he did so–he didn’t have a crystal ball to see the future. A nuclear armed North Korea getting ready to take over South Korea after 50+ years of raping their own people.
***
General McChrystal should resign his commission if the needed reinforcements are not sent–if he sees this as leading into losing the fight there. President Obama (PBUH) can then blame the EVIL BOOOOOSH when the Messiah’s debacle unfolds in the failed tribal “state” of Afghanistan. Stand by for Vietnam style helicopter “rescues” from government building roofs again.
***
John Bibb
***
So, who do I trust more, BHO or Gen. McChrystal? Mmmmm. I guess it would be the general, not the jumped-up community organizer. Obama is way out of his depth.
I suspect we are going to find out later that Obama has had this request for many months. US Generals do not go this far without being provoked first. I expect General McChrystal to be leaving shortly.
I prefer the warrior-leaders who are clear-eyed, hard-edged and plain-speaking. That he doesn’t engage in political doublespeak is a-ok with me.
I certainly hope so.
Unbelievable! This guy we had never heard of before a couple weeks ago is THE authority on the war.
Notice how the article linked is from the telegraph, and not one of our own media outlets.
So what? When similar military leaders stated their opinions under Bush, no one questioned their naivite, or questioned whether or not it was appropriate.
That’s not to say such statements created issues that weren’t even there. Under Bush these individuals were largely hailed as sort of “whistle blowers” for outting failed policy. Gotta stop Bush ya know. No one even considered the fact there were diverging opinions within the military and such statements were just one opinion. The same could be true here.
Yep, the article said ‘advisers’ and the word certainly is plural. It could mean two ‘advisers’ or twenty ‘advisers’, but the article never said exactly how many. Did it?
I think when things are said ‘on the record’ versus ‘off the record’ are two different things. On the record, certainly would mean that the advisor is speaking for the President.
There are certainly two ways to go when a comment is made off the record. The person could be speaking for the President, so as not to have the President’s finger prints on the statement. Or, it is just that individuals opinion.
More might, and hopefully will, be revealed, and we may find out if this is the President’s thoughts and feelings. But, until the facts are in evidence, I will reserve concluding that the off the record (anonymous) comment is what Pres Obama thinks.
Yep, take Pres Obama to task, though I prefer to do it with facts.
Consider what happened when Pres Obama made the comment about Kanye West, we did eventually learn that he in fact did say the guy was an idiot. I am not saying Pres Obama does, or does not, have that opinion of General McChrystal. I am saying the article offers no proof that he does.
Red State Skeptic: Yeah what would the commander on the ground know about conditions on the ground. After all he is only there.
Better to ask a law professor in yale who never leaves his office.
Everything Obama does makes complete sense if you accept that he is the Siberian Candidate, or, The Fresh Prince of Bill Ayers.
Didn’t you mean (channeling Vizzini from The Princess Bride)
“INCONCEIVABLE!”
I concur with zyzzyg on this.
If Michelle has evidence that Obama, himself, is furious with the General then she should provide it.
Otherwise, Michelle should fix her headline.
This President created a leadership vacuum with his timid,strategic incompetence and crybaby-ism, just exactly what was it he expected to happen?
McChrystal is watching his troops take the hit for a child Kings arrogance and he doesn’t want to see the after Vietnam result ever again.
Her headline came from the headline of the Telegraph, which she linked. Are you just miffed it didn’t come from the AP?
Just a short year ago dissent was necessary for a healthy Democracy (even if you happen to live in a Federal Republic), and whistleblowers of any stripe, including military leaders at the war front, were celebrated and given celebrity status including book deals by the left. My how quickly things change. And not for the better.
The ‘One’ is losing support for his socialist takeover every day. Even from the socialists in Europe who are finding him to be the unprepared and overstated buffoon as we thought he was before the election.
Pretty soon we may even start to see cariacatures of Rahm, the Organ Grinder with his Obama monkey doing a little dance. And the left thought Bush was stupid and controlled by others. At least Bush had a moral compass to help him stay somewhat centered.
Obama has failed miserably at everything except spending tax money we don’t have and shows no leadership traits at all. Pathetic for this great nation to be led by this man. It is also pathetic for blacks people to have to think of him as the first person of color in the White House.
I am very embarrassed for my country and my fellow citizens who voted for this ‘Hopey-Changey’ fool. He is barely qualified to lead protest marches in Chicago and for sure was not ready to be leader of the free world.
Let’s start the real Change movement in 2010 by cleaning out Congress of all those (Dems, GOP’ers and Independants) who have sold out the country for their own gain or political expediancy. By my reckoning, that would be almost all of them.
I apologize for going somewhat off topic, but am very passionate about my country and very pi$$ed off at the way it is being led by these inept purveyors of socialism and their communist friends.
Such an AP headline would be great!
Michelle’s headline doesn’t read:
the way Hot Air would frame it.
HER headline is wrong and she should fix it.
To any Obambi defender here are some questions. Is he delaying to make a decision because he doesn’t know what to do or is he delaying because he wants America to lose?
During the election he suggested he had all these “great minds” around him to make up for his lack of experience in foreigh affairs. He has Joe Biden damn it! How are those great minds doing? Where is Joe? What are they suggesting? We know what the experienced military general on the ground is saying. Why not listen to him?
Obambi needs to grow a pair and make a decision soon or resign and let someone else do the job that doesn’t have to do a series of polls first.
This is what you get when you elect little piss ant socialst democrats. They want to appease the enemy and attack the American people. See Jimmy Carter.
I don’t think the headline is the issue here.
Don’t worry everyone. Obladah is getting his advice on military matters from Joe Biden.
Desparate times call for desparate measures and this man is a true hero. He was well aware he was angering the Pres. but he needed to make the information public. God bless him!
We have this problem every time we have a POTUS who has not served in the armed forces. Further, if BHO could get away with disolving the military, he would.
Then she shouldn’t have a problem changing it.
Meanwhile while the headline police badger MM to change her headline, american soldiers are dying….
Gezzzz
Just speaking for myself, as a military spouse, and my military husband, yes, my husband despises this Pretender-in-Chief. At least with Bush, we felt like he gave a damn. This guy? Not so much.
My husband, a military officer, will be retiring in 3 years. He is currently in a deployment window. Guess where? Afghanistan.
I’m scared. I’m seeing what’s going on over there, and Vietnam, though a different war, comes to mind. The US civilian population doesn’t support us, the politicians and the military politicians that wear a uniform and like to tinker with the military, doesn’t support us…. so what are we supposed to do? A lot of good people died in the Kandesh battle and most of them (I think) were from Fort Carson near where I live.
If it wasn’t galling enough to put one’s life on hold, wondering what might happen to your husband (and your marriage/future) in a few months, the very fact that this pretentious, arrogant bastard will sign my husband’s military retirement forms makes me even more angy.
I am angy. Nobody knows what to do in Afghanistan. I don’t trust McChrystal. I don’t care if he is some kind of counterinsurgancy genius, he thinks our military is now present as social workers to refashion a society that is basically still in the 10th century politically and religiously. The military and war isn’t something that you tinker with. Period.
Either make a decision, win this war, or get out. Military families are struggling as it is with many military spouses having trouble finding jobs and hoping their military members get home safe. Don’t sell us out.
Off-topic for a minute but I read the other day where the military is going to be forced to take the swine flu shot. We were forced to do the same thing in 1976. I volunteered to go first in the unit I was assigned to at the time. My Colonel told me I could go after him. He was THE leader (he did not realize that as an NCO I let him lead). I wonder if the President (as CinC) is going to take the shot before anyone else?
I also find it ironic that a person who could not qualify to get into the military because of admitted past drug use is the CinC.
And the same thing could have been said about Gen Petraeus; yet as others have said the commanders on the ground are there for a reason…to command the troops; therefore it would be reasonable to expect that Gen McCrystal would know what the situation on the ground really is.
The way you put it would make it sound like Obama just picked a name out of a hat as to whom he would like to be the commander of forces in Afghanistan, which I highly doubt was the case.
sonofdy, if the headline is so unimportant, then why are you engaging me about it? If the headline is so unimportant, then why can’t it be changed?
RSS should remember another general, one who was a failure at everything else he’d ever put his hand to. And to top it off, he was a hard-drinker – now we’d probably label him an alcoholic.
But when advisers complained to Abe Lincoln about the general’s drinking, Abe is reported to have replied [rough paraphrase] ‘Find out what he’s drinking and give it to the other generals, because he wins battles.’
That general was Ulysses S. Grant.
But I suppose RSS, like Grant’s detractors, knows more about winning battles – and wars – than the commanding general on the ground in Afghanistan.
It’s a no brainer that Gen. McCrystal knows more about winning wars than I Won (who served how many years in the military…?).
And as others have reminded us, Gen. McCrystal was (supposedly) hand-picked by Obama to take command in Afghanistan – the war that Obama campaigned on as being the ‘right’ war.
Yet now Obama wants to second guess his hand-picked commander?
I wonder if we will find out exactly how long Obama has been sitting on the memo that we need more troops or the war could be lost. If they told us it was sent in August, I suspect it was sent much earlier than that. They lie a lot in this administration, as we know. How long has he been ignoring this war and how many more troops are dying because of it? If he has been derelict in his duty as CIC, does that mean impeachment? And who will impeach this man? McChrystal acted out of desparation, since no one was listening…kinda like we are doing at the tea parties, etc.
There are former Marines who post here. Can anyone tell me what Jim Jones is like. I know his ‘book’ history, a Silver Star and a BSV in Vietnam. I know he was SACEUR and Commandant of the Corps. But, what do his staff officers think of him? Do any of them currently serve on his staff as National Security Advisor? How much counterinsurgency experience does he have? Is he half as good as Gen Paul K. Van Riper was?
Or is he a Wesley Clark wannabe as John S. McCain III his former boss seems to think?
Hahahahahhhhaaaahhhhhhhhaaaaaa. What a dolt.
This statement is proof that Bummer is dragging his feet on McChrystals’ request. Remember Lincoln, when told Grant was a drunkard, said “Find out what he drinks and give some to our other generals!” The difference between a great general and a bum one is Great looks to support troops, and win…..not sacrifice his citizens in harms way with out giving them every thing needed including a brave LEADER!
That reminds me. What WW II general got in trouble with a president for being out spoken? …………Something to do with Blood and Guts as I remember. McChrystal is in good company.
Did you miss the headline?
How many examples do you need where the media is aware of more facts than what makes it into their stories? Could that be a cause for the headline?
How many of these “advisers” were speaking for Urkel? If they were not speaking for him, why were they speaking for themselves?
Rather than whining about being upset over the Commander he appointed, why doesn’t Urkel just address his request for resources rather than taking weeks to do so?
So true. The media is already talking about “Biden’s strategy”.
Who knew Biden was a closet military tactician?
Which brings the questions….
I thought Urkel offered a strategy in March? I thought Urkel fired the previous Af’stan commander and installed McChrystal, then refused to take his calls.
Now Urkel keeps talking about some new strategy. Why? Did the last one you offered not work?
You are so right. Sad.
That stupid comment has been nagging at me since I read it earlier today.
So McChrystal has to fight a war in Af’stan on the one hand, and play “hard ball” politics in Washington on the other hand so he can fight that war?
McChrystal naive? The naive one is the inexperienced community agitator occupying the WH refusing to face reality.
Quit sniveling about the headline! It was what the Telegraph originally headlined their story with…which has since been changed by the Telegraph to “angry”.
I have a screen shot of the earlier headline.
All of these comments about whether he is angry with him, upset with the speech, or whatever he is – I can tell you one thing. A 25-minute meeting is not a war fighting strategy session – most likely it was a one-sided conversation. I have been on the both ends of those types of conversations.
Reading comments at leftist websites I am amazed at how quickly the obamabots are turning on General McChrystal. Naw, I’m not really amazed. Just starting to again reveal their well hidden dislike for the military. I’m sure it’s been tough pretending to be supportive since innaugeration day.