During an interview broadcast today on CBS’ “60 minutes,” General Stanley McChrystal blamed the inefficiencies of the Pentagon’s bureaucracy for hampering his efforts in the war and has urged them to act with more urgency.

Gen. Stanley McChrystal

“The secretary (of Defense Robert Gates) talks in terms of 12 to 18 months to show a significant change and then we eat up two or three months just on sort of getting the tools out of the tool box,” McChrystal complained.

Gen. McChrystal took charge of the Afghan war in June, inheriting an eight year old war with record violence. Since then, things have continued to worsen with new records for casualties set every single month on McChrystal’s watch.

The general is now pressing for his “new” strategy, which is the addition of another 45,000 US troops to the 68,000 already committed by the Obama Administration. Though McChrystal has accepted that some debate could take place on his call, he has cautioned that the debate must be limited and that he needs the troops in short order or the war will be lost.

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