Obama angry at Gen. McChrystal speech on Afghanistan
The relationship between President Barack Obama and the commander of Nato forces in Afghanistan has been put under severe strain by Gen Stanley McChrystal’s comments on strategy for the war.
He told the Institute of International and Strategic Studies that the formula, which is favored by Vice-President Joe Biden, would lead to “Chaos-istan”.
When asked whether he would support it, he said: “The short answer is: No.”
He went on to say: “Waiting does not prolong a favorable outcome. This effort will not remain winnable indefinitely, and nor will public support.”
The remarks have been seen by some in the Obama administration as a barbed reference to the slow pace of debate within the White House.
The next day he was summoned to an awkward 25-minute face-to-face meeting on board Air Force One on the tarmac in Copenhagen, where the president had arrived to tout Chicago’s unsuccessful Olympic bid.
In an apparent rebuke to the commander, Robert Gates, the Defence Secretary, said: “It is imperative that all of us taking part in these deliberations, civilians and military alike, provide our best advice to the president, candidly but privately.”
When asked on CNN about the commander’s public lobbying for more troops, Gen Jim Jones, national security adviser, said:
“Ideally, it’s better for military advice to come up through the chain of command.”
Some commentators regarded the general’s London comments as verging on insubordination.
Bruce Ackerman, an expert on constitutional law at Yale University, said in the Washington Post: “As commanding general, McChrystal has no business making such public pronouncements.”
Actually, I do not fault Obama for being contemplative over the decision to commit more troops. He has a few weeks before making a decision without adversely impacting the war.
I believe in the chain-of-command and despite times in the past when generals have spoken out publicly, I believe that if McChrystal feels the CIC is making a mistake that will cost lives and/or the war, if he cannot get the right answers privately, he should get out of uniform before going public.
I have no respect for Gates or any of the anti-military types in the Obama Administration; and the idea of Mahdi Obama as CIC makes me sick; but, if we do not have order within the military we will not have an effective military at all. Sorry to the conservatives out there, but I think McChrystal, like Patton and others, needed to be slapped down for trying to force his military plans at the expense of decency and order within the ranks.
Oh, he is right about the needed troops and getting a decision soon!
