General Betray Us Part Deux

[Chicopee John]

I guess he learned a heck of a lot in the past couple of years....................

 

 

 

AP source: Obama replaces McChrystal with Petraeus

 

 

WASHINGTON – A senior administration official tells The Associated Press that President Barack Obama has accepted Gen. Stanley McChrystal's resignation as the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan and is replacing him with Gen. David Petraeus, head of U.S. Central Command.

 

McChrystal was pushed out over his blistering remarks about administration officials quoted in a magazine interview.

 

After an Oval Office meeting with McChrystal in the morning, Obama huddled with his war advisers and planned to announce his decision on the general's fate to the nation at 1:30 p.m. EDT in the Rose Garden.

 

The official spoke only on condition of anonymity, because the president's announcement was not yet public. Petraeus now oversees the wars in both Afghanistan and Iraq.

 

 

[Chicopee John]

I really thought (and hoped) Obama would kick him in the butt but leave him in command at this juncture.

 

This can't be a morale booster for the troops.

[DieHardBrownsFan]

Obama is a Chicago Hood, just like the Mayor Daly. I admire Mchrystal (spelling). He had the gonads to say the truth and the hood forced his retirement. Betrayus is now a a yes man in the field for Obama. The only good to come out of this will happen in 2.5 years when Obama loses in a landslide.

[Mr. T]

Obama's arrogance will be the down fall of his presidency.

 

 

what a clown.

[lambdo]

I was hoping this thread would be posted..well done Political Board!

 

I also was hoping for what you said Chicopee.

" kick him in the butt but leave him in command at this juncture"

 

You don't need or want a "yes man" at the top of your command. Know you don't need a General that mouths off against the V.P of his own country, but it's unfortanate that the end result is what it is.

 

What change is this going to bring is the next question?

 

[rich4eagle]

I really thought (and hoped) Obama would kick him in the butt but leave him in command at this juncture.

 

This can't be a morale booster for the troops.

 

This is a booster to the troops. Military Protocol is to follow orders. McCrystal belittled his Commander in Chief and his staff members. He further insulted former military leaders who are advisors to the President. The only way out was to relieve McCrystal, otherwise every soldier has been given the message that you do not have to obey orders and can do whatever you wish. It is called military protocol. Follow orders and keep your mouth shut.

 

Eliot Cohen, a Republican, whom I know and worked with wrote a fine article in Today's Wall Street Journal about why McCrystal needed replaced.

 

For me, it is sad the comments in this thread defending insuborination by a renowned military figure and disrespect for a President who is busting to fix the mess we are in as a nation, pretty sad statements above. Especially, since the same folks were hooraying Bush as he wrecked the nation.

 

The Link

 

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142405...Opinion_LEADTop

[calfoxwc]

Rich,

 

Firing the commander of the Afghanistan theatre who has outstanding support from

 

his troops, now and historically with the Special Forces, is not a good thing.

 

The troops morale will be hurt, because they are already having serious trouble over there,

 

with the asinine leftist politically expedient rules of engagement that is callously self-defeating

 

for our troops.

 

I still support Petraeus, but I will bet not one of you libs will see him as "betray-us" anymore.

 

And so it goes, the rules and judgements you progressives "have", change strictly on the basis of three things:

 

1. Self serving political expediency

 

2. Frantic membership in the leftist liberal/progressive subculture here in America.

 

3. The total absense of any genuine PRINCIPLES to believe. You all don't have em. Ever.

That is how you maintain... #2

 

[Alo]

I really thought (and hoped) Obama would kick him in the butt but leave him in command at this juncture.

 

This can't be a morale booster for the troops.

How so? Petraeus probably is the most popular man in the military. Why would be the troops be disappointed that he's now in charge?

 

The most important part of the Rolling Stone article was how troops in Afghanistan feel like they're being exposed to unnecessary risk because the COIN strategy gets bollixed up when it's filtered through the military bureaucracy. Petraeus likely has enough clout to correct some of those issues.

[DieHardBrownsFan]

How so? Petraeus probably is the most popular man in the military. Why would be the troops be disappointed that he's now in charge?

 

The most important part of the Rolling Stone article was how troops in Afghanistan feel like they're being exposed to unnecessary risk because the COIN strategy gets bollixed up when it's filtered through the military bureaucracy. Petraeus likely has enough clout to correct some of those issues.

 

 

Horseshit. Betrayus is not well liked. I don't know where you get your information from, but you should stick to scouting the NFL. The commanders on the ground, i.e., Afghanistan, not DC should make the call. But it's all political bullshit by a weak President and his hand picked yes men.

[rich4eagle]

Rich,

 

Firing the commander of the Afghanistan theatre who has outstanding support from

 

his troops, now and historically with the Special Forces, is not a good thing.

 

The troops morale will be hurt, because they are already having serious trouble over there,

 

with the asinine leftist politically expedient rules of engagement that is callously self-defeating

 

for our troops.

 

I still support Petraeus, but I will bet not one of you libs will see him as "betray-us" anymore.

 

And so it goes, the rules and judgements you progressives "have", change strictly on the basis of three things:

 

1. Self serving political expediency

 

2. Frantic membership in the leftist liberal/progressive subculture here in America.

 

3. The total absense of any genuine PRINCIPLES to believe. You all don't have em. Ever.

That is how you maintain... #2

 

Read the article by Eliot Cohen he is exactly correct. Eliot Cohen is a republican and like me spent 30 years working the US military. What happened cannot be tolerated in a follow the orders military, the only kind that can succeed in warfare. Rule one, follow orders. When you publically challenge the quality of orders or disdain them you by default are causing chaos. You have just told the private to disregard what the sargeant tells him and on up the line. That is why a soldier who defies orders or publically questions them must be immediately relieved of command.

 

Harry Truman fired a five star general and hero and military wizard and orchestrator of defeating Japan in WWII when he defied Truman in the middle of the Korean War. Truman was right. General MacCarther was wrong. If this discusssion were about Bush you would be on the other side of the coin.

 

You defile the President name and credibility in other places so it is clear you want our President to fail. He inherited a mess. He did the right thing to fire McCrystal he did the wrong thing to escalate a losing proposition Afghan. We need to withdraw from there as well. d

[VaporTrail]

1 - To be in the military and to mouth off about your higher ups, and not just any higher ups but the president and vice president is just asking to be relieved of duty.

 

2 - This isn't good for any American soldiers. I don't see how Petraeus showing up would boost morale at all.

 

Obviously, there is a problem when your top general in a foreign conflict bitches about the brass to the Rolling Stone. He was hand-picked by Obama and was a fan of Obama. He probably voted for him. It appears whatever we're doing in Afghanistan isn't working (shocking). I remember seeing that we just straight up gave up Korengal valley a few months ago. Didn't even take everything with us. I think we need to know Obama's priorities, here. Is he half-assing this? Either get us out of there or get behind a mission we can accomplish.

 

I don't think that a general would be so stupid as to not realize there'd be SERIOUS ramifications for the shit he said (I could be wrong, but I feel it's unlikely).

 

This war is just as winnable as Iraq. We still haven't found bin Laden. This is not a good sign at all, as I think it shows how little power we have on an international stage. At this point, who to blame isn't what we should be worrying about. What's done is done, and how he handles the fallout from this will be the most important thing as far as the world is concerned. I may not have agreed with Bush, but dammit, he played it off with confidence and that we had more power than we really did. Unfortunately, we didn't have as much power, and we've shown everyone else our hand. And while Obama did inherit this crappy set of situations from Bush, the problem is now Obama's to fix. He better fcking fix it.

[lambdo]

I think MCcrystal was quiet for too long? I do agree that spouting off to the Rolling Stone off all places has firing / resignation written all over it...poorly played by McCrystal.

 

Obama has now gone through two Generals? I thought McCrystal was brought in to promote new thinking and a new order there? How's he doing that by shutting up , not speaking up and taking orders?

 

Now it's back to head in the sand, ass in the air? That sounds ripe for a butt f**king ..no?

[rich4eagle]

I think MCcrystal was quiet for too long? I do agree that spouting off to the Rolling Stone off all places has firing / resignation written all over it...poorly played by McCrystal.

 

Obama has now gone through two Generals? I thought McCrystal was brought in to promote new thinking and a new order there? How's he doing that by shutting up , not speaking up and taking orders?

 

Now it's back to head in the sand, ass in the air? That sounds ripe for a butt f**king ..no?

 

Excuse me, in military decorum you have closed door meetings with the boss. You write memos to the boss. You discuss it with the boss. And then you follow orders or resign or ask for a transfer.

 

Of course in right wing stupid America you tell Rolling Stone your boss is all xxxxed up.............sand up ones ass who understands anything about the US military and commander in chief........this racist partisan stupidity defending belittlling the Commander in Chief and his staff in war they inherited, doing it in public, from those who failed to win it in 7 1/2 years is immensely hilarious, not to mention absolutely stupid

 

but you keep at hating the new president who inherited the mess from the old president.............which put the whole nation at risk

 

what is going here and the reaction from the right is clear sign the end of Rome is near

[calfoxwc]

Rich,

 

You "defiled" Bush many, many, many times over the eight years.

 

At least I'm not incoherently rambling about Obamao being a murderer of hundreds of thousands of Iraqis and

 

Afghani's.. etc.

 

So, Obamao chose Bush's chosen military leader. The only thing Obamao has done right, then, is

 

to copy Bush's military commander pick?

 

ROF,L. But it's also sad.

 

This president should fail - fail to change our gov to a different form of gov, fail to

 

raise energy prices so high it devastes our entire standard of living, and our economy.

 

Face it, Rich, Obamao is totally just a people manipulator who won't let his grades at Harvard be known.

 

Get a grip. Your "savior" was a monumental mistake, and we all have to suffer him and his leftist college

 

teachings that is nothing short of Jimmy Carter's pitiful presidency - on drugs.

[Mr. T]

On the good side today, Congrats to my brother inlaw who was just promoted to Commander as of today.

 

US Navy Rank

[rich4eagle]

1 - To be in the military and to mouth off about your higher ups, and not just any higher ups but the president and vice president is just asking to be relieved of duty.

 

2 - This isn't good for any American soldiers. I don't see how Petraeus showing up would boost morale at all.

 

Obviously, there is a problem when your top general in a foreign conflict bitches about the brass to the Rolling Stone. He was hand-picked by Obama and was a fan of Obama. He probably voted for him. It appears whatever we're doing in Afghanistan isn't working (shocking). I remember seeing that we just straight up gave up Korengal valley a few months ago. Didn't even take everything with us. I think we need to know Obama's priorities, here. Is he half-assing this? Either get us out of there or get behind a mission we can accomplish.

 

I don't think that a general would be so stupid as to not realize there'd be SERIOUS ramifications for the shit he said (I could be wrong, but I feel it's unlikely).

 

This war is just as winnable as Iraq. We still haven't found bin Laden. This is not a good sign at all, as I think it shows how little power we have on an international stage. At this point, who to blame isn't what we should be worrying about. What's done is done, and how he handles the fallout from this will be the most important thing as far as the world is concerned. I may not have agreed with Bush, but dammit, he played it off with confidence and that we had more power than we really did. Unfortunately, we didn't have as much power, and we've shown everyone else our hand. And while Obama did inherit this crappy set of situations from Bush, the problem is now Obama's to fix. He better fcking fix it.

 

good thinking and good post. I take issue with some of it. First off your speculation that McCrystal voted for Obama has a 5% chance. 95% of military officers are republicans because republicans put butter on their bread. Please do also tell us why McCrystal was "real" fan of Obama? If Afghan the Russians failed for ten years and Bush and co failed for 7 1/2 years. So what is different that we are still failing? As far as Bush his balls and god and Cheney made most of his decisions, so let that go. You are wrong in saying we did not have as much power in yur Bush statement. We have ultimate power all focused wrongly and one thing forgotten as the Romans did, when you invade the homeland and try to make it your little garden, they fight hard and know the land. Obama inherited the mess, and fixing it is the same answer............get out move on and lose another war.

 

Meanwhile we won squat in Iraq it is way more unstable than when we decided to make a war against the guy who had it under control. Now the minute we completely leave all hell breaks loose and it is already moving that way. Last WORDS we won nothing in Iraq, it is unstable, we had thousand of troops injured and killed, we killed half a million Iraqi's....................FOR WHAT???????????????

[Alo]

The Rolling Stone article said that McChrystal voted for Obama. It's definitely worth a read.

[VaporTrail]

I really think our military power has been way less than we've led people to believe since Desert Storm. Yeah, we have the top technology in everything except submarines, but it's all useless unless you're waging total war. And you're not going to wage total war on anyone with nukes because if they lose, they'll probably just launch nukes. What our military can do is very limited, and it never had the capability to go to war with a motivated and large enemy, not even the during the Cold War, imo. I think we have enough to deter an invasion, but not much else. I think that our inability to deal with Iraq and Afghanistan, freakin third world countries, demonstrates that. Technology is the only thing maintaining the status quo, and we just showed everyone the limits of what we're capable of.

[Mr. T]

VT, our Airforce is a lot more advanced than any other nation. And do not be suprised to what we have in the Navy.

[Paxton]

It's disappointing to hear from people like NBC's Richard Engel that the top military brass in Afghanistan feel like President Obama is too disengaged from the war (or perhaps having buyer's remorse). But if you had to have a general take over while the president stands back, General Petraeus probably would be the #1 guy for a counter-insurgency campaign in Afghanistan.

 

I'm a bit skeptical as to whether the lessons of Iraq can be applied to Afghanistan, but I'm hoping Petraeus can make it work.

[VaporTrail]

VT, our Airforce is a lot more advanced than any other nation. And do not be suprised to what we have in the Navy.

 

That's true, but it's very limited in its capabilities. Believe me, I know, I fking did research for them. The Ruskies aren't far behind, and in some aspects are ahead of us. But as it stands, our military might isn't good for anything better than preventing an invasion (which, tbh, I'm okay with).

[DieHardBrownsFan]

We have the strongest, most advanced military. China has the numerical advantage, but alot of their equipment is old. Even with their strong economy, they cannot keep the numbers up. Russian equipment is old and they have few newer model planes out. Their Navy is really weak. Remember, we have basically been fighting a guerilla war in Afghanistan. It's not like we are going in and fighting a uniformed enemy. Everyone looks the same. They hide among the civilians and use them as shields, then use the propoganda value against us. We have to have bases overseas and a strong Navy to project our power via Aircraft Carrier Battle Groups. We are the only country in the world with this capability. Some other countries have Aircraft Carriers, but nothing like what we have. The only weak point our military has is the "Sand Crabs" (Civilian employees of the DOD) and the Contract companies. They are a drain on us.

[Westside Steve]

I really think our military power has been way less than we've led people to believe since Desert Storm. Yeah, we have the top technology in everything except submarines, but it's all useless unless you're waging total war. And you're not going to wage total war on anyone with nukes because if they lose, they'll probably just launch nukes. What our military can do is very limited, and it never had the capability to go to war with a motivated and large enemy, not even the during the Cold War, imo. I think we have enough to deter an invasion, but not much else. I think that our inability to deal with Iraq and Afghanistan, freakin third world countries, demonstrates that. Technology is the only thing maintaining the status quo, and we just showed everyone the limits of what we're capable of.

 

I'd think the problem lies in a completely inexperienced grandstander as commander in chief.

He sent these guys into an unwinnable mission with no end in sight.

Why is anyone surprised?

 

If the world faces a communtity organizing crisis we'll be fine.

WSS