"....one sergeant tells McChrystal: "Sir, some of the guys here, sir, think we're losing, sir." "

(1) I don't agree with Obama's afghanistan policy.
(2) Obama is our elected commander in chief.

Exactly what is it that you think we should do in Afghanistan, dys?

Gen. McChrystal has been criticized regarding his comments in a Rolling Stone magazine profile.
Excerpts from a Rolling Stone magazine profile on Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, set to appear Friday:
6/22/10

– "Even though he had voted for (President Barack) Obama, McChrystal and his new commander-in-chief failed from the outset to connect. The general first encountered Obama a week after he took office, when the president met with a dozen senior military officials in a room at the Pentagon known as the Tank. According to sources familiar with the meeting, McChrystal thought Obama looked "uncomfortable and intimidated" by the roomful of military brass. Their first one-on-one meeting took place in the Oval Office four months later, after McChrystal got the Afghanistan job, and it didn't go much better. 'It was a 10-minute photo-op,' says an adviser to McChrystal. 'Obama clearly didn't know anything about him, who he was. Here's the guy who's going to run his f-ing war, but he didn't seem very engaged. The Boss was pretty disappointed.'"

– "Last fall, during a question-and-answer session following a speech he gave in London, McChrystal dismissed the counterterrorism strategy being advocated by Vice President Joe Biden as 'shortsighted,' saying it would lead to a state of 'Chaos-istan,' The remarks earned him a smackdown from the president himself, who summoned the general to a terse private meeting aboard Air Force Once. The message to McChrystal seemed clear: Shut the f- up, and keep a lower profile. Now, flipping through printout cards of his speech in Paris, McChrystal wonders aloud what Biden question he might get today, and how he should respond. 'I never know what's going to pop out until I'm up there, that's the problem,' he says.

Then, unable to help themselves, he and his staff imagine the general dismissing the vice president with a good one-liner. 'Are you asking about Vice President Biden?' McChrystal says with a laugh. 'Who's that?' 'Biden?' suggests a top adviser. 'Did you say "Bite Me?"'

– "In private, Team McChrystal likes to talk s- about many of Obama's top people on the diplomatic side. One aide calls Jim Jones, a retired four-star general and veteran of the Cold War, a 'clown' who remains 'stuck in 1985.' Politicians like (John) McCain and (John) Kerry, says another aide, 'turn up, have a meeting with (Afghan president Hamid) Karzai, criticize him at the airport press conference, then get back for the Sunday talk shows. Frankly, it's not very helpful.' Only (Secretary of State) Hillary Clinton receives good reviews from McChrystal's inner circle. 'Hillary had Stan's back during the strategic review,' says an adviser. 'She said, "If Stan wants it, give him what he needs.'"

– "McChrystal reserves special skepticism for (Richard) Holbrooke, the official in charge of reintegrating the Taliban. 'The Boss says he's like a wounded animal,' says a member of the general's team. 'Holbrooke keeps hearing rumors that he's going to get fired, so that makes him dangerous. He's a brilliant guy, but he just comes in, pulls on a lever, whatever he can grasp onto. But this is COIN (counterinsurgency), and you can't just have someone yanking on s-.'"

– "By far the most crucial - and strained - relationship is between McChrystal and (Karl) Eikenberry, the U.S. ambassador. According to those close to the two men, Eikenberry - a retired three-star general who served in Afghanistan in 2002 and 2005 - can't stand that his former subordinate is now calling the shots. He's also furious that McChrystal, backed by NATO's allies, refused to put Eikenberry in the pivotal role of viceroy in Afghanistan, which would have made him the diplomatic equivalent of the general.

"... The relationship was further strained in January, when a classified cable that Eikenberry wrote was leaked to The New York Times. The cable was as scathing as it was prescient. The ambassador offered a brutal critique of McChrystal's strategy, dismissed President Hamid Karzai as 'not an adequate strategic partner,' and cast doubt on whether the counterinsurgency plan would be 'sufficient' to deal with al Qaeda. ... McChrystal and his team were blindsided by the cable. 'I like Karl, I've known him for years, but they'd never said anything like that to us before,' says McChrystal, who adds that he felt 'betrayed' by the leak. 'Here's one that covers his flank for the history books. Now if we fail, they can say, 'I told you so.'"

BBB,
I just started a thread that asks what people think should be done about McChrystal. Would be interested in your take.

as is my usual terse response, (1) There is no military solution for afghanistan (2) NGO infrastructure activities have the best possibility for reducing taliban influence/control (3) al quaeda no longer has a presence in afghanistan. (4) Afghanistan is operating (with USA funding) as an extremely corrupt government the people will never accept (5) Pakistan/Iran are a far greater threat to world stability. the afghanistan border reaches from Iran to china.

yes BBB, but what do you think?

So why is McChrystal criticized NOW and not last fall when he made these comments about Biden? The general takes an oath to the constitution, not to be a presidential or vice-presidential lackey, right? The guy tells the truth, he should be given a medal not prosecuted under article 88 of the military code. But even if he was guilty of some breach of that article the time to prosecute was last fall, not now.

This made-up "crisis" is just a cynical CYA false op by teamObama. If they fire McChrystal it will blow up in their faces. The guy deserves a medal.

A medal for what? For being an ass?

Your accusation that the Obama group would have invited such a problem upon themselves for any reason is ludicrous.

Cycloptichorn

It's not an accusation about a teamObama setup, it's an observation. I didn't find any good reason why the previous theater commander was fired either, do you know why?


The Rolling Stone article is online now http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/17390/119236

Uh, have you not noticed that the war in Afghanistan has dragged on for 8 years now, with no end in sight?

You can only put up with so much of that bullshit before people have to go.

Cycloptichorn

Uh, maybe you can take some time off from high-level strategy to learn the difference between 8 and 10. Hint: it's an extra several hundred troop casualties, and extra few trillion taxpayers' dollars, and oh, yeah, another 2 years!

What did you think of the interview itself?
from page 2

I don't think, my only function on a2k is to provide sarcastic jocularity.

That's as positive a contribution as it gets. Jokes will provide a smokescreen for creating "the perception that we didn't get run off", as some RAND analyst says on the last page of the article.

Thank god - my world continues to make sense...

You know everybody says the same thing about Biden.

Uh, no. Closer to 8 than it is 10. The war began on October 7, 2001. We will have completed 9 years of the war on October 7, 2010.

Might want to try adding your years up before making yourself look like a goddamn fool in front of everybody.

Cycloptichorn

We're in 2010, war started in 2001, that means we've entered the 10th year, and if the war runs into next year, 2011, we'll complete that 10th year and enter the 11th.

You're too stupid to learn the difference between 8 and 10, between more casualties and fewer, between more or less trillions $$$ wasted? Fine by me, but please go advertise it on another thread if you don't mind, you're just wasting space here.

From wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_in_Afghanistan_%282001%E2%80%93present%29



The war has been going for 104 months. 104/12=8.6667. That means two things:

1, we have not entered the 10th year of the war yet.

2, you have no clue how to work either math, calendars, or the combination of math and calendars.

You're new to A2K, and so don't know that I have been arguing against the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan for years. But you ought to take some time and learn both what people's positions are, and some basic arithmetic, before criticizing others. Because it makes you look like a ******* moron.

Cycloptichorn