McChrystal- A Different Take
Forgive the ever-cynical Green Eagle for this take on the McChrystal firing, but as usual, I fear that not just the mainstream media, but everyone has missed the real story here. This is my account of what I think really happened.
I've been reading some books lately about World War I, which I never knew too much about. The early years of the war were filled with an unending series of failures, on all sides, by generals. The Germans in their initial attack on France, both the French and the English in their response, the Russians in their sweep through Poland, the Austrians every chance they got, the Turks in their pathetic winter assault on Russia, across the Carpathians, and their attempt to attack Egypt through the Sinai peninsula- every step was marked by generals making promises which they spectacularly failed to keep, and which, in the aggregate, resulted in the stalemate and slaughter that followed. And this failure was accompanied by attempts by all of the generals involved to cast the blame on anyone but themselves.
Well, I think that is what McChrystal was facing in Afghanistan. We all know that the Taliban is not being diminished, that our "war" in Afghanistan is going down the same road that it went down for seven years of Bush Administration mismanagement- i.e. that McChrystal's grand strategy has failed.
I believe that McChrystal made a decision that he would rather be removed for a minor "indiscretion" in talking to the wrong reporter, than to be kicked out and humiliated for being a total failure as a general, and so he deliberately found a way to bait Obama to the point that he was relieved of duty. Now, he gets to play Douglas McArthur, and be a hero to the right, rather than slinking away in shame, and he gets to leave his mess to be cleaned up by someone else.
You don't get to be a four-star general without demonstrating considerable talent at manipulation, and I think this was a fine example.
I've been reading some books lately about World War I, which I never knew too much about. The early years of the war were filled with an unending series of failures, on all sides, by generals. The Germans in their initial attack on France, both the French and the English in their response, the Russians in their sweep through Poland, the Austrians every chance they got, the Turks in their pathetic winter assault on Russia, across the Carpathians, and their attempt to attack Egypt through the Sinai peninsula- every step was marked by generals making promises which they spectacularly failed to keep, and which, in the aggregate, resulted in the stalemate and slaughter that followed. And this failure was accompanied by attempts by all of the generals involved to cast the blame on anyone but themselves.
Well, I think that is what McChrystal was facing in Afghanistan. We all know that the Taliban is not being diminished, that our "war" in Afghanistan is going down the same road that it went down for seven years of Bush Administration mismanagement- i.e. that McChrystal's grand strategy has failed.
I believe that McChrystal made a decision that he would rather be removed for a minor "indiscretion" in talking to the wrong reporter, than to be kicked out and humiliated for being a total failure as a general, and so he deliberately found a way to bait Obama to the point that he was relieved of duty. Now, he gets to play Douglas McArthur, and be a hero to the right, rather than slinking away in shame, and he gets to leave his mess to be cleaned up by someone else.
You don't get to be a four-star general without demonstrating considerable talent at manipulation, and I think this was a fine example.
Comments
At least MacArthur had the sense to fade away...no chance we will have that kind of luck with this rat.
I'm an occam's razor guy. I think it was simple stupidity.