That should be the headline of the day.
Barack Obama has just announced that Gen. Stanley McChrystal has been relieved of command in Afghanistan based on an article in Rolling Stone which barely quoted McChrystal, but did include numerous inflammatory remarks by anonymous staffers and third-party commentators.
The Rolling Stone article was a hatchet job to create the impression that McChrystal was doing the criticizing.
But as I demonstrated yesterday, almost no quotes were attributed to McChrystal.
By firing McChrystal based on the Rolling Stone article, Obama has handed over control of the Afghan war to left-wing tabloids which happen to get close enough to a commander that they can weave a sensational story based on almost nothing.
Obama has replaced McChrystal with Gen. David Petraeus, who was lampooned by Obama’s base as General Betray Us when Petraeus was Bush’s chosen military leader.
The McChrystal discharge, even if you believe it was warranted on the merits, reflects a deeper problem of a Commander in Chief who has not earned the respect of the military at a crucial time in the Afghanistan war.
Starting with the delayed decision making process, and then the arbitrary political deadline Obama set last fall for withdrawal from Afghanistan, Obama has sown confusion in the ranks.
It’s time for Obama to lead, or to leave.
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Related Posts:
Now They’re Just Starting to Ask Questions About Afghanistan?
Why Isn’t The Troops’ Urgency Fierce Now?
Someone Tell The Dawdler-in-Chief This Is Not A Term Paper
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Comments
There are two sides to the story. First off military officers are not allowed to criticise the CIC even if it is warranted. I agree that the RS article was an hatchet-job. However, McChrystal should not have had the "journalist" at that dinner.
Second, all criticism of the failure in chief is warranted. I also agree that there is good reason to criticize McChrystal, but let's face it, Obummer refused to talk with him and refused to make a decision… instead he dithered for months on end.. it is stupid to call that dithering a cool attitude… it was not… McChrystal has not been fairly treated over the matter.
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