It was only three weeks ago that President Obama held an impromptu in-flight meeting with Afghan commander General Stanley McChrystal to privately reprimand him for publicly campaigning for his strategy of escalation in the war.
The lesson does not appear to have taken, however, as today Gen. McChrystal made an unscheduled appearance at the NATO Defense Ministers’ meeting in Bratislava, Slovakia to hold a behind-the-scenes lobbying session to convince the ministers of his plan.
The visit appeared to work as the general intended, as the alliance publicly embraced his strategy. Analysts say the NATO endorsement will almost certainly pressure Obama to back the strategy as well.
But once again it seems that Gen. McChrystal is going well outside the traditional chain of command to sell his plan of a dramatically escalated war any way he can. In NATO nations in general and the US in particular, war strategy has been the exclusive domain of civilian governments, with military advice something done behind the scenes. By contrast McChrystal seems very eager to publicly sell his strategy to the world, even going so far as to ridicule alternative plans.
Obama seems to have adopted a new kind of Presidential strategy: governing through weakness. In abandoning the public option his excuse will be: "Snowe made me do it." And when he escalates in Afghanistan, his excuse will be: "McChrystal made me do it." Perhaps he thinks the public will take pity on him and not blame him too much for the decisions he makes. But weakness is not what we want in a President.
At least Truman, despite his many faults, had the nerve to fire Macarthur for insubordination.
McChrystal is out of control. He is an arrogant, unrepentent warmonger. I'm not a fan of Obama, but when civilian control of the military is lost then any chance for reform of the federal government's insane foreign policies will be lost as well. What does McChrystal plan to do next? Cross the Potomac with an army at his command? It wouldn't surprise me.
my guess is he will ride back in to Washington amid a disputed election where the white house will claim vote fraud when president elected palin wins. and generals will be restoring the "peoples will"
What a nightmare scenario that would be.
Fire him. Then investigate his activities in Iraq. Murder, torture, black-ops — Mr. Halloween, sleep deprived and running on giblets, is a mass murderer.
Obama would do well to be very careful. If his presidency is to survive he must take control of the military.
MacChrystal seems closer to a General Franco of sinister renown than a commander in a US Republican Army. Why did Obama put him there ?
Is it true that Obama is waiting to see if Israel bombs Iran before engaging further in Af/Pak?
Is Obama a Janus, a smiling face when making speeches and the dark other face when acting?
With our world crumbling under us the eternal solution that boils out of Washington seems to be bomb away.
Of course McCrystal should be FIRED. IHowever, if not that, then a year on KP might just be the thing that will shut his mouth.
This is all so very clever. The man will be "sacrificed" because he is so hard core, they always knew this, and the "pragmatists" will get an escalation of fewer bodies, say 40k vs 80k that Meth Crystal asked for, but a ridiculous escallation none the less. People will heave a temporary sigh of relief but the war will carry on. Yup! Its Kabuki theater writ large.
This is starting to look a bit like how generals in Latin America used to behave a few generations ago.
If Obama has the cojones of a field mouse, he must fire McChrystal NOW.
And what's with NATO? They remind me of the little dog that is yapping its head off while standing safely between its owner's legs. How many troops are Germany, France, Italy, etc. actually going to contribute, and how long would they stay in Afghanistan if the Americans left? Another case of let's you and him fight. How the mighty have fallen.