White House summons US general to explain himself

[TheMercenary]

Hmmm... poor judgement saying it to a journalist. Maybe he should have thought before he spoke. Not that any of us have never done that. But does he want to surround himself with "yes men"? Is it a question of loyalty or candor?

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_mcchrystal_enemies

[xoxoxoBruce]

In the interview, McChrystal he said he felt betrayed by Eikenberry, the man the White House chose to be his diplomatic partner. If Eikenberry had the same doubts, McChrystal said he never expressed them until a leaked internal document threw a wild card into the debate over whether to add more troops last November. In the document, Eikenberry said Afghan President Hamid Karzai was not a reliable partner for the counterinsurgency strategy McChrystal was hired to execute.

McChrystal accused the ambassador of giving himself cover.

"Here's one that covers his flank for the history books," McChrystal told the magazine. "Now, if we fail, they can say 'I told you so.'"

Seems to me, Eikenberry is not only right, he was covering McChrystal's ass also. The last couple of months have proven McChrystal's progress has been severely undermined by Karzai's corrupt government, especially Karzai's brother.

[TheMercenary]

Sooner or later we will need to just let them go at it. I read the other day that Obama is sticking to his timeline of a pullout by Jul of 11. Who knows, but if that is the case why commit more troops to trying to kick out the Taliban and AQ in the South if we are just going to give it back to the bad guys in a year? McChrystal speaks his mind, I respect him more for that than kissing anyone's ass, maybe he felt betrayed by Eikenberry.

[xoxoxoBruce]

He said he felt betrayed, but for the life of me, I can't figure out why.

I read the other day that Obama is sticking to his timeline of a pullout by Jul of 11.

That's not accurate, the plan proposed by the military (McChrystal) was with additional troops, they (he) would have secured the key areas by July '11. Then Obama would order a drawdown of our troops, as they were replaced by UN and Afghan security, to hold the territory McChrystal secured. The Afghan's security troops have shown they can't, or won't, do that, so I personally feel the whole plan will fail. We can take any territory we want, but can't protect the population once we've got it. The key to success in Iraq, was having the Iraqis step up to protect themselves, once we'd kicked ass.

[Undertoad]

Michael Yon is now completely against McChrystal, and seems steaming mad and is saying that Afghanistan is now a disaster.

[TheMercenary]

I must have been mistaken. I thought it was Jul of 11. Honestly unless we establish a series of perm bases for the long term it will revert back to the 13th Century as it seems to tend toward when left to its own.

[TheMercenary]

Originally Posted by Undertoad

Michael Yon is now completely against McChrystal, and seems steaming mad and is saying that Afghanistan is now a disaster.

I'll have to play catch up with Yon reading. Is there some specific article you can point me toward?

[TheMercenary]

Well if this is to believed... then we need to GTF out now.

The night before the general is scheduled to visit Sgt. Arroyo’s platoon for the memorial, I arrive at Combat Outpost JFM to speak with the soldiers he had gone on patrol with. JFM is a small encampment, ringed by high blast walls and guard towers. Almost all of the soldiers here have been on repeated combat tours in both Iraq and Afghanistan, and have seen some of the worst fighting of both wars. But they are especially angered by Ingram’s death. His commanders had repeatedly requested permission to tear down the house where Ingram was killed, noting that it was often used as a combat position by the Taliban. But due to McChrystal’s new restrictions to avoid upsetting civilians, the request had been denied. “These were abandoned houses,” fumes Staff Sgt. Kennith Hicks. “Nobody was coming back to live in them.”

One soldier shows me the list of new regulations the platoon was given. “Patrol only in areas that you are reasonably certain that you will not have to defend yourselves with lethal force,” the laminated card reads. For a soldier who has traveled halfway around the world to fight, that’s like telling a cop he should only patrol in areas where he knows he won’t have to make arrests. “Does that make any f–king sense?” Pfc. Jared Pautsch. “We should just drop a f–king bomb on this place. You sit and ask yourself: What are we doing here?”

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/op...-96873364.html

[Undertoad]

http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/...ons-war/57483/

I follow Yon on Facebook and that is where he's publishing his carping these days; I don't know if he's written a dispatch about this. He's madder than hell since losing his embed status and Facebookers are trying to figure out how much of his venom is because of that.

He had many items about Canadian General Menard before Menard was unceremoniously fired, which add to a long list of things Yon was right about.

[classicman]

Duncan Boothby, a "senior media aide" to Gen. Stanley McChrystal, has resigned in the wake of an explosive Rolling Stone expose that features McChrystal's staff openly criticizing key members of the Obama administration.

Boothby, a civilian press aide, "was heavily involved in arranging access for journalist Michael Hastings to McChrystal and his staff this year

[Undertoad]

McChrystal been called back to DC for a personal meet with the Pres. Bloggers are lining up to guess whether he'll be fired within the week.

[classicman]

Wouldn't it be a matter of hours? Seriously - How is this not insubordination?

I've not read all thats out there - seems like they (he and his people) talked a lot of shit out loud at bars, dinners whatever. Loose Lips Sink Ships.

[Happy Monkey]

It is insubordination, but Obama doesn't want a major shakeup in Afghanistan right now. It'll be hard to fire him, but it'll also be hard not to.

[classicman]

From Yon's article ...

"General Petraeus had both sides of his mind working, and so when success began to happen the media was there to cover the good job." In the absence of success, Yon believes the military ended his embed to stifle an independent voice and steer coverage to a less experienced, more docile stenographer pool of reporters. "If McChrystal is perceived to fail in Kandahar, the Taliban will just about have us in media checkmate for 2011. This can have tremendous negative consequences and the Taliban leadership fully understands that."

Though he has relocated to Thailand to report on the civil unrest there, he still covers Afghanistan from afar and remains critical of General McChrystal's leadership. "Today, I do not trust McChrystal anymore than some people trust the New York Times, Obama or Bush. If McChrystal could be trusted, I would go back to my better life. McChrystal is a great killer but this war is above his head."

He better fire him. Ferfuxache any other country would have the guy's head on a pole in center city. If he doesn't fire him he will lose too much credibility - something he cannot afford.

[xoxoxoBruce]

Originally Posted by Happy Monkey

It is insubordination...

Nah, it's transparency.