McChrystal Article

[killsaly]

So it has been on the news all day at work, and i broke down and read the whole thing.  I must have missed something... Other than an aide saying "Biden? Bite Me?" or whatever, it didnt really seem bad.  It was mostly a discussion of the war and the general with minimal reference to the president or his staff.  It seems like the news is trying to make this into a bigger issue. I mean really, there isnt ANY thing else going on today? Really?  You gotta call the general back to dc to explain this article?  What a crock of shit.  Maybe by reading it too fast i missed something, but i dont think so. 

Anybody else read it and think it not worth even a tounge lashing, let alone the talk of firing McChrystal that is all over the 24 hour news broadcasts?

[Stillwater]

The hyperbole on the news stations has been ridiculous.  A couple advisors got a little trigger-happy while being interviews (excuse the pun), but other than that, nothing McChrystal said was out of line, in my opinion.  Being the commander in Afghanistan is a no-win situation, you need someone with a little "don't give a fuck" in the position or they'll be eaten alive.

[azaghal1981]

I have not read it but it sounds like he knew this would get him canned and saw it as a way out. It is fucking Afghanistan, after all. Would you want to serve there? Regardless, the most intriguing thing about this issue is the Firebutt McGee shoutout from James Murphy.

[sweetcell]

Regardless, the most intriguing thing about this issue is the Firebutt McGee shoutout from James Murphy.

i don't think the mcchrystal article is out yet (yes, it's causing controversy before it's been published).  the current issue, 1107, with the ixkpd-bk shoutout haz jay-z on the cover, and the extreme-leftie piece-of-the-month is about how obama failed to crack down on BP.  no mention of mcchrystal.

edit: the mcchrystal piece is in 1108, but can be read here: http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/17390/119236

[Herr Professor Doktor Doom]

I don't know if this is true, but Maureen Dowd's latest column says he was involved in the Tillman cover-up, which if true means he never should have been given this job in the first place.    Can his ass.

[azaghal1981]

Well, I stand corrected.


I did hear that he was involved with the cover-up this morning. It makes you wonder how he got this position knowing that.

[sweetcell]

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/06/how-mcchyrstal-and-co-blew-the-rolling-stone-profile.php

[killsaly]

Would you want to serve there?

I already did in 03 and 04.  It definitely was a shit hole back then, and i cant see it having gotten any better since.  (so no i would not)

And I think the fact that he got the job was probably due to:

It doesn't hurt that McChrystal was also extremely successful as head of the Joint Special Operations Command, the elite forces that carry out the government's darkest ops.

[Herr Professor Doktor Doom]

Killsally, just out of curiosity, if you had talked like that about your commanding officer and your country's allies to the press, what do you think would have happened to you?

[nkotb]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TCNqKrX1sx8&feature=related

Killsally, just out of curiosity, if you had talked like that about your commanding officer and your country's allies to the press, what do you think would have happened to you?

[killsaly]

Doc, I had standing orders to NOT talk to the press, so it wouldnt be an issue.  But I am also think myself to be pretty smart, especially back then in regards to higher ups and the chain of command, so it definitely wouldnt have been an issue. 

I dont want to give the impression that i approve of the Obama admin bashing by his staff... He shouldnt have given the interview in the first place, and he should have put a leash on his staff, because i would imagine he knew how they acted and talked around each other when drunk and otherwise. 

I know my first post seemed overly sympathetic to the general, I just thought it was a bit tame what was printed when compared to what the news was making it out to be.  It was a bad thing, and Obama had no choice in what he did.  Generals and their staff shouldnt be giving interviews to the press in this "embedded" fashion.  They definitely shouldnt talk shit "on the record."

The really sad part about the interview was how it makes the state of the war appear.  It seems to be a perpetual nightmare.  Nothing can change over there in a year, or a decade.

Also, believe it or not, Bush at the time I was in the military and deployed over there was pretty popular with the troops.  I cant really think of any bad mouthing I ever heard.  We were too concerned with the mission and our personal safety. 

[Stillwater]

Doesn't hurt that the vast majority of military members are Republicans

[killsaly]

Not all... Some members/former members are Libertarians. A few democrats.  And all the colors of the rainbow!!!!

[Thousand Made-Up Loves]

Doesn't hurt that the vast majority of military members are Republicans

Surely individuals in that group harassing that poor Muslim soldier in Texas also vote GOP, if they vote at all.

Muslim soldier: Army has not addressed harassment complaints

Coming to terms with a Muslim identity in the U.S. Army

By William Wan
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, May 17, 2010; 11:54 AM

Two months after a Muslim soldier complained to the Pentagon about being harassed in the wake of the Fort Hood shootings, Spec. Zachari Klawonn said the Army has not followed through on its promises to address problems at the country's largest military base.
This Story

    *
      Muslim soldier: Army has not addressed harassment complaints
    *
      Serving his country, testing his faith
    *
      Coming to terms with a Muslim identity in the U.S. Army

Commanders at Fort Hood, Tex., moved Klawonn, 20, off post for his safety in March after a threatening note with religious slurs was left at his barracks door. But then the military failed to provide him the standard stipend for off-post housing, Klawonn said. In recent weeks, he's had to take out two loans, borrow an additional $300 from a nonprofit group and pawn his possessions to pay the bills.

Klawonn said he asked for the housing allowance repeatedly, making his appeals up the chain of command. Last week, after a reporter asked about the housing allowance, Klawonn said he was called by his commanders and told he would begin receiving his stipend June 1.

[James Ford]

Gregory Kane: Let's require presidents to have prior military service
By: Gregory Kane
Examiner Staff Writer
June 28, 2010


Read more at the Washington Examiner: http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/columns/Let_s-require-presidents-to-have-prior-military-service-97269404.html#ixzz0s9yNZFLn



Am I the only one confused about the entire Obama-McChrystal affair?
Gen. Stanley McChrystal was America's guy leading the war effort in Afghanistan. He made a comment in Rolling Stone magazine that President Obama didn't like. According to news reports, McChrystal criticized a comment that Vice President Biden made about the war effort. A leaked memorandum hinting that the war would be lost without 40,000 more U.S. troops being sent to Afghanistan also raised Obama's hackles.

The argument goes that Obama, as commander in chief, had no choice but to fire McChrystal. And that's where my confusion comes in. I'm still wondering exactly why Obama is the commander in chief.

Yes, I'm at it again. I've said this once, and I've said it again: Barack Obama has no business being commander in chief of America's armed forces. I know it. You know it. He knows it.

And lest anyone think I'm just picking on Obama, I'm applying the same criterion across the board: No one who hasn't had military experience should be sitting in the White House.

I've come to the conclusion that maybe I'm funny that way. The first presidential campaign I have any memory of is the one between Sen. John F. Kennedy of Massachusetts and Vice President Richard M. Nixon in 1960.

I wasn't even 9 years old, but when I read newspaper accounts of the two men's qualifications to lead the country, one of the first things I looked for was military experience.

Since 1960, in every presidential campaign, I've looked for those military qualifications. But I didn't know how important they were until I joined the Air Force in 1974, where the military training instructors did their best to whip raw recruits into shape.

They chewed us out. They threatened, intimidated, cajoled and used any tactic to turn us from civilians into airmen.

Our bunks had to be made a certain way. Our clothes had to be folded or hung in our lockers a certain way. The shoes had to be spit-shined, and even the belts on our uniforms had to pass military muster.

Any variation from any of these rules, any infraction, was met with a demand from one of the drill sergeants for us to "Whip out a 341 form!"

At some point during our basic training, the squadron commander explained why we were being put through all this hell. He conceded that the goal was to deliberately submit us to a stressful situation to see how well we could hold up.

And if we couldn't take the stress of basic training, he admonished, it wasn't likely we could take the greater stress of a combat situation.

Once I left the Air Force, I pondered whether Americans would ever elect a president who passed on going through such stress. How could such a person bear the stress of being commander in chief?

Obama had his chance to serve in the military and passed on it. He chose a career in community organizing and law. If a person passes on a military career for whatever reason, I don't want him or her telling me years later that he or she wants to be commander in chief of the very armed forces that person didn't think were worthy of joining.

Before he became president, what were Obama's qualifications to be commander in chief, and why did he think he deserved the job with no military experience? The media had the responsibility to ask those questions in 2008 but didn't.

I'm betting McChrystal wishes they had.