Furious President Obama summons Gen. Stanley McChrystal to D.C

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The top commander in Afghanistan, Gen. Stanley McChrystal, has been summoned to the White House to explain biting and unflattering remarks he made to a freelance writer about President Barack Obama and others in the Obama administration.

The face-to-face comes as pundits are already calling for McChrystal to resign for insubordination.

McChrystal has been instructed to fly from Kabul to Washington today to attend Obama’s regular monthly security team meeting tomorrow at the White House.

An administration official says McChrystal was asked to attend in person rather than by secure video teleconference, “where he will have to explain to the Pentagon and the commander in chief his quotes about his colleagues in the piece.”

Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0610/38837.html#ixzz0raSIZCLO

Here’s the Rolling Stone article on McChrystal, in PDF form
Warning: language markhalperin.files.wordpress.com/2010/06/r1109mcchrystal.pdf

I think McChrystal’s days are numbered.
 
Interesting blog post on a Navy blog:

General McCrystal will be fired, as he almost certainly should be. That really isn’t the problem facing the Obama administration and the country. The problem is that we appear to be losing the war, and now you have an internal distraction the enemy had nothing to do with.

The President made Afghanistan his war when he decided to go with General McCrystal’s counterinsurgency strategy and began surging additional troops. I don’t want to hear how the President of the United States had no choice regarding Afghanistan and was backed into the corner - because to suggest that is true is to basically say Barack Obama is not qualified to be the leader of the free world. The President has lost his General. Has he lost the General McCrystal counterinsurgency strategy too? Is losing the war not so far behind?

I just wish there was one thing so far during the Obama administration to date I could point to and suggest there is a light at the end of the tunnel, but the lack of direction and focus that is displayed in every emerging challenge this administration has faced to date suggests that a pattern of panic, confusion, chaos, and indecision regarding what to do will become the next phase of the Afghanistan war.

informationdissemination.net/2010/06/more-on-mccrystal.html
 
Good grief. RS railroading an Obama-voting general in a run-around defense of the Obama admin? Sickening.

I ended my subscription to RS over a decade ago. It’s become little more than a leftist rag, on par with Mother Jones.
 
scipio337 said:
Good grief. RS railroading an Obama-voting general in a run-around defense of the Obama admin? Sickening.

I ended my subscription to RS over a decade ago. It’s become little more than a leftist rag, on par with Mother Jones.
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This isn’t RS fault. I don’t like the magazine either, but they are just reporting what they heard. It isn’t the first time in our history that a general shot his mouth off and got in trouble for it. It looks to me that McCrystal must have encouraged this sort of trash talk within his staff and didn’t really care who heard it.

IMHO, McCrystal is going down, and he should. The only questions are how and how fast.
 
gilliam said:
This isn’t RS fault. I don’t like the magazine either, but they are just reporting what they heard. It isn’t the first time in our history that a general shot his mouth off and got in trouble for it. It looks to me that McCrystal must have encouraged this sort of trash talk within his staff and didn’t really care who heard it.

IMHO, McCrystal is going down, and he should. The only questions are how and how fast.
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You’re kidding, right? Even the tagline: “Stanley McChrystal, Obama’s top commander in Afghanistan, has seized control of the war by never taking his eye off the
real enemy: The wimps in the White House” is slanted to show McChrystal as some type of admin bucking maverick, while the rest of the hit piece shows the Obama admin in only a positive light. Generals disagreeing with a Commander in Chief isn’t anything new.

I hope RS is happy for “outing” him, but yes, I’m sure he’ll be gone.
 
He;s got to go. The President is the Commander and Chief and you do not criticze your superior in public. Obama can not let this pass,
 
I would think that his incompetence in conducting the war would be a good enough reason to can him but I guess this will have to do. There have been three surges in Afghanistan at his request (one under Bush and two under Obama) and we’re still no better off than we were before. We have BBC correspondants who manage to find Taliban strongholds and conduct face-to-face interviews with top Taliban commanders yet the world’s most powerful military, under the direction of Mr. McCrystal, can’t seem to find them. It’s a shame that he chose to lash out at Obama for his own failures.
 
scipio337 said:
Good grief. RS railroading an Obama-voting general in a run-around defense of the Obama admin? Sickening.

I ended my subscription to RS over a decade ago. It’s become little more than a leftist rag, on par with Mother Jones.
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I’ll second that emotion!!!
That’s all it has been for decades now.

And like MTV and VH1 which exist because at one time had some kind of connection to music it has almost nothing to do with music at all anymore… Doesn’t matter… with excellent music magazines like MOJO out there actually writing about music, who cares? Jann Wenner is one of the top enemies of music out there.
 
EmperorNapoleon said:
I would think that his incompetence in conducting the war would be a good enough reason to can him but I guess this will have to do. There have been three surges in Afghanistan at his request (one under Bush and two under Obama) and we’re still no better off than we were before. We have BBC correspondants who manage to find Taliban strongholds and conduct face-to-face interviews with top Taliban commanders yet the world’s most powerful military, under the direction of Mr. McCrystal, can’t seem to find them. It’s a shame that he chose to lash out at Obama for his own failures.
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Soooo…The “Buck Stops” of incompetence at the General…not with The Commander In Chief??
 
kimmielittle said:
Soooo…The “Buck Stops” of incompetence at the General…not with The Commander In Chief??
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The buck stops will those actually waging the war. The Commander In Chief can issue orders but is it the CIC’s fault if those responsible for carrying them out bungle the job? I’d say no. The one thing I would fault Obama for is keeping McCrystal around for as long as he has. The President and Congress can give all the resources and troops in the world to our Generals but it makes no difference if those resources and troops aren’t used effectively and they haven’t been under the leadership of Mr. McCrystal.
 
EmperorNapoleon said:
I would think that his incompetence in conducting the war would be a good enough reason to can him but I guess this will have to do. There have been three surges in Afghanistan at his request (one under Bush and two under Obama) and we’re still no better off than we were before. We have BBC correspondants who manage to find Taliban strongholds and conduct face-to-face interviews with top Taliban commanders yet the world’s most powerful military, under the direction of Mr. McCrystal, can’t seem to find them. It’s a shame that he chose to lash out at Obama for his own failures.
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McChrystal wasn’t commander of Afghanistan forces until June, 2009. Prior to that, he was JSOC commander. There was no “surge” in Afghanistan “at his request” under Bush. Obama sacked the former ISAF commander, David D. McKiernan in June, 2009

McCrystal had a successful record in Iraq.

It’s a shame you defend Obama’s actions, ad nauseum.
 
Presumably, McChrystal knew what he needed when he asked Obama for 40,000 additional troops. Maybe he really did. Obama gave him 30,000. So whose judgment was superior on that issue?

Washing the dirty laundry in front of Rolling Stone (and perhaps being candid with his own circle) was a massive lapse in judgment, and one he seemingly sustained over a long period of time. This was not an “oops” moment.

But one has to remember that he, a career military man, voted for Obama. So, one is very much inclined to question his judgment generally. (No pun intended)
 
EmperorNapoleon said:
The buck stops will those actually waging the war. The Commander In Chief can issue orders but is it the CIC’s fault if those responsible for carrying them out bungle the job? I’d say no. The one thing I would fault Obama for is keeping McCrystal around for as long as he has. The President and Congress can give all the resources and troops in the world to our Generals but it makes no difference if those resources and troops aren’t used effectively and they haven’t been under the leadership of Mr. McCrystal.
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If indeed, there is incompetence …WHO first **promoted the General to a four star General ** and than appointed the General as Commander of American Forces in Afghanistan? Mr. Obama promoted him to four star general, and then appointed him the new commander of American forces in Afghanistan. Replacing the then commanding General David McKiernan and banishing him to a less than honorable forced retirement.

Your disrespect of the General’s rank is noted…now show the same for Mr. Obama
 
kimmielittle said:
If indeed there is incompetence WHO first **promoted the General to a four star General **and than appointed the General as Commander of American Forces in Afghanistan? Mr. Obama promoted him to four star general, and then appointed him the new commander of American forces in Afghanistan. Replacing the then commanding General David McKiernan and banishing him to a less than honorable forced retirement.

Your disrespect of the General’s rank is noted…now show the same for Mr. Obama
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McCrystal is one of the country’s leading experts on COIN. McKiernan wasn’t. The appointment was reasonable considering our strategy in Afghanistan.

I don’t blaim Obama for this in the least. McCrystal’s arogance just got the better of him. It isn’t the first time.

This is also a test for Obama’s leadership. Obama has to replace McCrystal. He has to do it fast and he has to do it cleanly.
 
gilliam said:
McCrystal is one of the country’s leading experts on COIN. McKiernan wasn’t. The appointment was reasonable considering our strategy in Afghanistan.

I don’t blaim Obama for this in the least. McCrystal’s arogance just got the better of him. It isn’t the first time.

This is also a test for Obama’s leadership. Obama has to replace McCrystal. He has to do it fast and he has to do it cleanly.
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If he does not terminate McCrystal he will look weaker to the world than he already is.
 
gilliam said:
McCrystal is one of the country’s leading experts on COIN. McKiernan wasn’t. The appointment was reasonable considering our strategy in Afghanistan.

I don’t blaim Obama for this in the least. McCrystal’s arogance just got the better of him. It isn’t the first time.

This is also a test for Obama’s leadership. Obama has to replace McCrystal. He has to do it fast and he has to do it cleanly.
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I would agree, except, again it will look like Obama doesn’t take criticism well. Obama, no matter what he does, will look weak so some major group.

McCrystal should respect the hierarchy that comes with the military, that includes the fact that the CIC ranks above him even if he doesn’t like the guy in that position. But the military is full of a lot of politics I’m just surprised on how public he made it.
 
gilliam said:
McCrystal is one of the country’s leading experts on COIN. McKiernan wasn’t. The appointment was reasonable considering our strategy in Afghanistan.
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Yeppers!!
I don’t blaim Obama for this in the least. McCrystal’s arogance just got the better of him. It isn’t the first time.
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For sure
This is also a test for Obama’s leadership. Obama has to replace McCrystal. He has to do it fast and he has to do it cleanly.
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👍👍

My only point was…where the “Buck Stops”…surely, not with the General as was suggested
 
kimmielittle said:
If indeed there is incompetence WHO first **promoted the General to a four star General ** and than appointed the General as Commander of American Forces in Afghanistan? Mr. Obama promoted him to four star general, and then appointed him the new commander of American forces in Afghanistan. Replacing the then commanding General David McKiernan and banishing him to a less than honorable forced retirement.
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Stanley McCrystal replaced David McKierman who replaced Dan McNeill who replaced British General David Richards etc etc. He’s just one man in a long line of incomptent American and foreign officers promoted to the position but, again, it’s not the CIC’s fault if they bungle the job. It IS his fault for keeping him on.
kimmielittle said:
Your disrespect of the General’s rank is noted…
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LOL. I don’t care what his rank is. Actions determine whether or not he’s deserving of admiration and respect; not a pin on his hat.
 
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