Friday’s 25 minute in-flight meeting between President Obama (just returning from what proved to be a failed last minute pitch for Chicago’s Olympics bid) and Gen. Stanley McChrystal was more than just the coincidental meeting officials tried to spin it as.
Rather officials say that President Obama was “furious” with the General following his pointed remarks at a London speech the day prior. At the speech, Gen. McChrystal mocked Vice President Biden’s call to scale back the objectives of the eight year long war, saying it would lead to “Chaos-istan” and insisting that he would never accept such a plan.
The meeting that followed was reportedly “awkward,” and experts say that the working relationship between the president and the commander of the Afghan War is “not great.”
Undaunted, however, General McChrystal is said to have spent much of their brief time together emphasizing the increasingly grim situation on the ground and pressing the president to make a decision on his call for additional troops.
The Obama Administration is reportedly unsure what to make of McChrystal, with one adviser saying “people aren’t sure whether McChrystal is being naive or an upstart.” Whatever the case, it is uncharacteristic for a US general to spend so much of his time publicly petitioning for his strategy and attacking the commander in chief for not endorsing it immediately.
If Obama wants to look decisive, he could always sack the general and put his butt on a plane home. Even better: fill the rest of the plane with American troops.
Simply put, we have no business being there, or in Iraq, Pakistan, Europe or Asia. America cannot and should not be dictating to foreign nations how they will be governed or who should lead them.
Americans need to face reality. We can either maintain an empire or restore our freedoms. We can't have both. Time to choose.
Pres Obama should not tolerate this insubordination from Gen McChrystal
He is, after all, Bush and Petraeus' selection and now is lobbying our allies
while the President is still weighing his options! Pres Obama should choose
his own general, hopefully one with a plan to get out, not to escalate to the
tune of 500,000 troops over several years as has been reported is Gen McChrystal's
intent.
Time to step back from the abyss of Afghanistan, Russia's Vietnam, and soon to be
our VietNam II if McChrystal's and Petraeus' advice is followed.
Honestly, why should we care if the Taliban return to power? It should not be our job to nation build in hopeless Afghanistan. It is our job to nation build in the USA.
The Bush Administration betrayed the American people by changing the mission in Afghanistan from pursuing al Qaida (that they were never serious about pursuing) to installing and supporting a corrupt puppet government that would give American companies oil and gas pipeline contracts. That's not whose interests the American military signed on to protect.
Let Unocal employees go fight the Taliban.
If the general is insubordinate, the President should can him. But remember, the President appointed McChrystal only about 6 months ago. Can the President appoint someone better who can get the job done with the troops we have? Or is that task impossible no matter who commands the war effort. If the latter is true, the President must either increase the forces in theatre, or pull out.
Obama campaigned on escalating and "winning" the war in Afghanistan. He then ordered a build up of troops. Now it is going poorly and, not surprisingly, more people are dying. The general is trying to do what the administration asked him to do, which is what the military does — follow the orders of the president, and I guess, the Congress, which seems to have almost no power anymore. The general is trying to "win" the war, which, within a miliary paradigm, would require more weapons and more troops. The problem is the paradigm was all wrong from the beginning, and Obama never should have employed it. He should have read more, listened more, and thought more deeply before sending troops, many of whom have already been to Iraq multiple times. It is a disgrace.
The moral "me" has always said that it was wrong from the beginning and is wrong right now. I don't want anyone to die. That's me in a nut shell. The other ME says, "Bring it on, baby!" Because I'm beginning to think that the only way for this to end, finally dammit, is for a whole lot of bodies to hit the floor. American, Canadian, NATO, you name it…. people gotta die, and a lot of them, before reality hits home. Its been far too slow and easy up to this point and the public is numb with the whipsawing BS they're subjected to on a daily basis. When the nut crunching starts you can be sure the casualties will climb just as the rhetoric and lies will reach crescendo levels. All the Wagnerian tunes of death and glory, presently dancing about MethCrystals' and Obamatons' head, will finally be made flesh and it won't be pretty but it just might bring an end to our national nightmare.
You could be right. I am profoundly disturbed by the general numbness, denial, dissociation. The wars may have to get very bloody and horrible before anything changes.
The war in Afganistanis to support Heroine trafficking.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heroin
Heroin Trafficking
"The cultivation of opium in Afghanistan reached its peak in 1999, when 225,000 acres—350 square miles—of poppies were sown. The following year the Taliban banned poppy cultivation, a move which cut production by 94 percent. By 2001 only 30 square miles of land were in use for growing opium poppies. A year later, after American and British troops had removed the Taliban and installed the interim government, the land under cultivation leapt back to 285 square miles, with Afghanistan supplanting Burma to become the world's largest opium producer once more. [29] Opium production in that country has increased rapidly since, reaching an all-time high in 2006. War once again appeared as a facilitator of the trade.[30]"
If you only knew,who actually calls the shots and wants to bring down Obama–Hillary Rodenhurst Clinton. Obama is just another idiot at the helm–his strings are pulled. O'bama is a one term President and Hillary has made sure he appoints/keeps all the same Bush's Country wreckers.
Imagine Hillary President of USA 2013 ?
Imagine Hillary running in a primary and winning against an incumbent Obama?
Yeah, keep imagining that.
The US is crumbling while it blows up Afghanistan for the cause of nation building. The entire policy is chaos. Is there no way to end the downward spiral of the US?
Isabel Patterson said; "What good does it do to have a saint of every conceivable virtue operating a guillotine (government)? Personally, the man may be above reproach. He may have the highest of morals and ethics. He may be imbued with a passion for doing good. But the mechanism he is hired to operate cuts off heads. He may dislike to cut off heads. He may weep with true sorrow whenever a head falls into the basket. But he was hired to pull the rope that lets the knife drop. And when it comes down, off comes the head. That is the way the tool works." The quote is from Patterson's book: The God of the Machine. Government, all of them, is the greatest threat to life, liberty, property rights and prosperity the individual has ever encountered.
Isabel Patterson said; "What good does it do to have a saint of every conceivable virtue operating a guillotine (the government machine)? Personally, the man may be above reproach. He may have the highest of morals and ethics. He may be imbued with a passion for doing good. But the mechanism he is hired to operate cuts off heads. He may dislike to cut off heads. He may weep with true sorrow whenever a head falls into the basket. But he was hired to pull the rope that lets the knife drop. And when it comes down, off comes the head. That is the way the tool works." The quote is from Patterson's book: The God of the Machine. Government (the machine), anywhere and in all times, is the greatest threat to life, liberty, property rights and prosperity that man has ever encountered.
Damn straight. I believe I read somewhere they call it the Humanitarian with a Guillotine. Where someone with all the best of "intentions" is willing to cut your head off to save you. We can all live without that kind of "compassion".
This guy has nothing on Jeff Huber!
If a war is to be fought then do it. If civilians and military die then so be it. Listen to the military leaders or just give up and be known as cowards.
Ted Morford, Capt. USA Ret.
Combat Engineers– Korean War
Spring and Summer campaigns 1953