The Night Beat: What the Heck Was McChrystal Thinking?

[quiet.american]

The Atlantic:

snips:

ROLLING STAN: What in the heck was Gen. Stanley McChrystal thinking? I mean, I know what he was thinking: he was tired of being the victim of what he believes is a concerted effort on behalf of Ambassador to Afghanistan Karl Eikenberry and others to undermine everything he was given 18 months to do. He was tired of being perceived in the press as a neoconservative killer, Dick Cheney's hired assassin, or disloyal to President Obama and his staff. He was angry at being blamed for leaking the draft of his report to the President to Bob Woodward. (He did NOT leak the document). He was miffed that a large number of mid-ranking soldiers and battalion commanders and enlisted guys didn't support his strategy....

At some point, I think in 2005, one of McChrystal's task-forces-that-didn't-really-exist did something in Afghanistan that angered Eikenberriy, who was in command of the region at the time. The two men exchanged words and built mutual mistrust. They have not worked well together ever since. McChrystal blames Eikenberry for trying to influence policy by leaking information and by impeding McChrystal's efforts to build better relationships with Afghanistan's fragile government.

During the strategy review, Eikenberry didn't think McChrystal's surge could work. He told the White House that contractors would have to pick up the slack for years to come. McChrystal insisted that he could execute his COIN strategy with a heavy presence of special operations forces ... and be out in 18 months (i.e, troops would begin to be drawn down). The White House ultimately sided with McChrystal....

But there were tensions. Even though McChrystal voted for Obama and told him so during their first meeting, he sensed that a number of senior White House aides didn't really believe that the former commander of the military's special missions unit during the Bush-Cheney years was suddenly on their side. National Security Adviser James Jones, who is a bit of cipher to McChrystal's team, may or may not have been one of these aides. No one in the West Wing bought all that liberal internet chatter about JSOC's alleged crimes -- but no one really didn't buy it, either....

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Sigh. Fasten your seatbelts. This summer's going to be a bumpy ride.

[POAS]

1. Bumpy to say the least.

You know Obama will be blasted no matter how he deals with McChrystal so he may as well enforce military discipline and (at least) reduce him in rank and remove him of command.

The right wing will seek to make political hay out of this. If the General leaves the service I expect to see him making personal appearances for Republicans and perhaps in ads for them. For every "Barton" ad we'll see a "McChrystal" ad as the Repubs attempt to cash in on the misconception of them as strong on defense and strongly supportive of the military.

[quiet.american]

2. I think you've nailed the possible McChrystal/Fox News scenario. nt

[Raine1967]

3. Let the Right Make hay.

They are the ones who are the first to call for discipline. They call for supporting the troops. A friend of mine said this and I could not agree more:

It's about insubordination in the military command. That's the story here. Any one familiar with military command knows that insubordination can put the entire military in danger. Not only has McChrystal undermined the Commander-In-Chief, he has undermined the mission, thus putting the lives of the men and women in uniform at further risk.


This rises above the GOP. President Obama is the Commander in Chief -- McChrystal answers to HIM -- not the other way around. This undermines the military and allows for dissent within the ranks. While that is good for civilian life, I don't want it in our military,

[Number23]

4. You and your friend are absolutely right

But we all know it's not that simple. As POAS said, Obama will be blasted either way.

I think the President will probably chastise McChrystal, issue a "leaked" statement that McChrystal had gotten his ass handed to him, and then say that because we are too far into the battle in Afghanistan, that McChrystal will stay in his position.

[Number23]

5. Well, hell I'm 0 for 2!

I was discussing two things with my husband, an old school infantry Aussie Army Lt. Col (joined when he was 16) and I said that 1) Obama would not sack McChrystal (same thing I said in post #4) and 2) Kevin Rudd, the Prime Minister of Australia, would be able to survive a party challenge from his Deputy. My husband thought McChrystal should be sacked because it's in the best interests of the military and thought that was Kevin Rudd (or KRudd) as he calls him would be out as well.

Well #23 was wrong on both counts! McChrystal is out as is this guy:

Kevin "KRudd" Rudd (and in hindsight, his ouster really wasn't that much of a surprise given his lack of friends in government)

Say hello to the new Prime Minister of Australia, the elegantly named Julia Gillard



Congrats to Ms. Gillard, the first female Prime Minister of Australia. Don't be fooled by the sweet smile, she is ruthless. My kind of gal. :)