In its daily briefing the White House today refused to endorse Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the administration’s current commander in Afghanistan, and suggested that he may well be fired following his Thursday meeting with an angry President Obama, a meeting for which he was ordered to return.
“I would say all options are on the table,” White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said of McChrystal’s status after the upcoming meeting, using the terms the White House normally reserves for its regular threats to attack Iran to discuss the future of the commander who just 12 months ago was installed by President Obama and whose strategy he has openly endorsed.
Gen. McChrystal’s current predicament came as the result of a recently released profile/interview published in Rolling Stone magazine. In the interview, McChrystal and top aides openly deride virtually every top administration official, calling National Security Advisor James Jones a clown and telling the magazine, on the record, that they believed President Obama is “intimidated” by the Pentagon brass.
McChrystal had openly sparked the ire of the administration in October with a similar scandal, openly mocking Vice President Biden’s Afghanistan strategy at a time when it was competing with his own McChrystal Plan.
Having shrugged off that incident and won another major escalation of the war in December, McChrystal’s confidence seems to have been soaring, confident that as the man picked to lead President Obama’s centerpiece war, he was all but untouchable.
Yet with growing questions about the disastrous results of the McChrystal Plan, the general is in many ways falling into the same trap as Gen. David McKiernan, who he replaced last year. His war is failing, and while the administration doesn’t want to openly admit to the terrible situation on the ground (particularly as it angles for yet more emergency funding), McChrystal himself could be swept under the rug conveniently by a scandal such as this, and his plan replaced with someone else’s plan, which will likely be little different but will at the very least be “new” enough that officials won’t be comfortable labeling it a failure yet.
If he gets sacked will he have to shut down the crystal meth lab too?
This could be the plot of an upcoming Hollywood blockbuster: Almost Famous II.
They can cast Bill Kristol to play Kate Hudson's role as the whore.
Good ridence to bad rubbish:
McChrystal seems to be strutting around like he's the reincarnation of Gen Douglas McArthur without the credentials. I know of no battle or war that McChrystal has ever won except in his own mind.He may be right about President O'BushBombya being intimidated by the Pentagon brass and acted accordingly, intimidating O'BushBombya. He's got to be sacrificed so he can go back to Central America and kick some poor peasants around whom don't have the capapcity to defend themselves. That when McChrystal shines, against the helpless. He's just another Pentagon legend in his own mind, like Patreaus.
The butcher of Iraq has just offered to resign and will probably get a job with Blackwater (Xe).
he is a great solder old man
Not that I feel sorry for Obama or regret the discomfiture of the FedGov, but McChrystal had it coming. All the BS talk about how the military "intimidates" the civilians SHOULD be a crystal (pun intended) clear warning sign that the military no longer feels itself beholden to the civilians. The threat of the military vetoing civilian decisions or, even worse, imposing its will on the political establishment can no longer be dismissed out of hand. If Obama fails to dismiss McChrystal, he will have only abetted the emergence of military involvement as a feature of political life.
Sorry Gen. when asked your opinion you are suppose to lie. What a dummy.
Obama made of the same stuff as Harry Truman? We'll soon see!
Will Obama's bosses let him accept McChrystal's resignation?
The operative word being 'may'. Even in this Obama is indecisive. Either fire him right away while the outrage is still hot, or don't do it at all. How hard is it??
Of course Obama is intimidated by the Pentagon brass. He has no principles, no strategy (other than always taking the path of least resistance) and has no balls. He wants the title of president, but he's just a puppet of the political establishment. Peaceful_Idiot asks the relevant question in his post above.
A brilliant move by McChrystal. Realizing the war is lost, he provokes Obama to fire him so that the eventual defeat and retreat will be blamed on Obama and his administration. Ready to run for the presidency in 2012 under the republican banner.
Can he join Taliban? They would love him.
Obama may be intimidated by the generals. In his genius book War In The Shadows The Guerrilla In History Robert B Asprey says that President Johnson was intimidated by the bemedaled generals and would not stand up to them. This was a tragedy for the American people because the generals did not know what they they were doing. The US military cannot fight it's way out of a guerrilla paper bag and has not won a guerrilla war in 108 years (The Philippine Insurrection of 1902).
why my comment is not shown
Moreas and Peaceful_Idiot I think you both have a point there… Will Obama's bosses let him fire McChrystal? Which raises the question: Do Obama's bosses want McChrystal to be our next president?
And as usual, of course The Onion nails it: http://www.theonion.com/articles/obama-promoted-t…
McChrystal is as bad as Obama. They are all warpigs!
hell you never know, i mean gates was no better than rumsfeld, who knows what maniac they will find to take on this job, and i guarantee the words exit strategy will not be in the job summary
Maybe McChrystal just got tired of fighting for Heorine Traffickers.
Noway will the current administration have the "guts"to sack McCrystal.
Obama will back down although McCrystal must be hoping he wont.
The war in Afghanistan is going so badly that nobody – including –McCrystal – believes they can win anyway.
Uh oh, looks like "Operation Mudhut" in Afghanistan isn't going too well. I wonder ifthe soldiers are objecting to fighting illegal wars for Israel.
You can't fire the Taliban.