Top Afghan Commander Summoned to Washington

[groundloop]

Source: ABC

An Obama administration official says the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan has been summoned to Washington to explain his controversial comments about colleagues in a recent interview.

The official says Gen. Stanley McChrystal has been directed to attend the monthly White House meeting on Afghanistan and Pakistan in person Wednesday rather than over a secure video teleconference, so he can discuss his comments with President Barack Obama and top Pentagon officials.

An article in this week's Rolling Stone magazine depicts McChrystal as a lone wolf on the outs with many important figures in the Obama administration and unable to persuade even some of his own soldiers that his strategy can win the war.

.........

The article in this week's issue of Rolling Stone depicts Gen. Stanley McChrystal as a lone wolf on the outs with many important figures in the Obama administration and unable to convince even some of his own soldiers that his strategy can win the war.



Read more: http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/wireStory?id=10977013

[unhappycamper]

1. Evidently Stanley's not familiar with the Chain of Command. n/t

[No Elephants]

4. But he is, and so are his aides, who were even more outspoken than was their general, which seems

odd and odder.

I'm not usually a conspiracy theorist, but this seems so out of character for members of the military that it seems fishy to me.


http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=post&forum=102&topic_id=4436823&mesg_id=4436927

[mariema]

27. You mean like maybe McCrystal wanted this to blow up

into a big story so that he could resign over it and still get to be a big hero to the rabid right so there will be a lucrative position waiting for him somewhere after he gets out of the mess that is Afghanistan so he won’t be blamed for the failure?

[WeDidIt]

2. With any luck, Patreus will convene an article 32 hearing

If this had been somebody in the lower ranks, you can bet your ass it would end in a court martial.

[saigon68]

20. Betrayus belongs in the dock at the Hague

[Ian David]

3. McCrystal is going to say he was drunk, that he's going to rehab, and he's found Jesus.

Oh, wait.

That's for adultery.

Oh, he's fucked.

[CLANG]

5. General Insubordination

[dixiegrrrrl]

21. Soon to be demoted to Major Catastrophe.

[CLANG]

26. And hopefully working for Colonel Sanders!

[golddigger]

6. Well, I guess we just found out who

is the next repuke front runner for president in 2012.

[Betty Karlson]

7. This from the same guy

who obfuscated the Pat Tilman murder.

[anachro1]

8. SOMEONE'S

gonna get a spanking today.

[groundloop]

9. 'bout time for him to be told to STFU..

and just do his job.

[Dennis Donovan]

10. MacArthur him!!

Friggin creep!!

[harun]

11. Fire that SOB.

[liquid diamond]

12. Damn. Even Morning Joe is ripping McCrystal.

Fucking idiot.

[wmbrew0206]

13. McChrystal is going to get called on the carpet but Obama can't afford to fire him right now.

Between the oil spill in the gulf, a supreme court nominee, the "doctor's fix", his OMB director resigning, and a host of other things, Obama just has too much else going on to be able to fire the general that he picked to run Afghanistan. It will cause way too many other problems that the administration doesn't need going into the mid-terms. This is probably the only reason McChrystal keeps his job.

He is going to get his ass chewed by Jim Jones for a good bit, then Rahm will take his turn, and then Obama will finish it up. At the end of the day though everyone will kiss up and promise to play nice.

[hedgehog]

15. I hope you're wrong about that. Obama has to be clear that

he is the Commander-in-Chief. I hate to see any President resort to that term; I think the Presidency encompasses so much more than that. However, this is precisely the kind of situation the Founding Fathers had in mind.

[CLANG]

14. Please respond to my poll!

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x8610610

[denverbill]

16. Can McChrystal be court-martialed for this?

I don't want a forced resignation or firing. I want the military to boot him out. If he's kicked out by the military, it will be tough for him to run for President. If Obama fires him, it will make him a martyr to Teabaggers and their leaders (Rush, Beck, etc).

[wmbrew0206]

17. Could he? Probably not. Will he? No.

At this level being fired is enough. It ruins the general's legacy. MacArthur never really recovered from Truman firing him.

If the WH decides to try and court martial McChrystal for this it would be a PR nightmare. You would have McChrystal and his group running around saying that Obama is clueless on Faux News for the next two years. It will also piss off the rest of the military as it will be seen as being extremely petty and thin skinned. It is the right thing to do when a general is fired for publicly disagreeing with the POTUS. It is another thing to try and publicly humiliate him further with a court martial.

I also don't think a court martial is even feasible since McChrystal would have to be judge by his peers and that means four star generals. There aren't enough of those for enough of them to take two to three weeks off at the same time to sit on a jury.

[denverbill]

19. MacArthur didn't have the right-wing spin machine that exists today.

Ollie North has a radio show. So does G Gordon Liddy. Both of them are convicted criminals who were fired, but rehabilitated by the right. If you seriously think Obama firing him would be a black mark on his record, I think you are badly mistaken. It would be a badge of honor for the right, as much as it was for Ollie North and G Gordon Liddy 'taking one for the team'. Only in this case, it's the 'anti-Christ, socialist, anti-American Muslim' whose firing a 'war hero' because he criticized 'the Savior'.

Can you imagine if GW Bush had fired a general critical of his Iraq policy? That general would be a hero to the left (well, unless he criticized Shrub for not allowing them to use more force in civilian areas or something).

If Obama fires McChrystal I can damn near guarantee who he will face in 2012. And he would be a formidable opponent compared to Palin, Romney, Huckabee, et al.

[wmbrew0206]

28. It cost MacArthur a chance at the Presidency; same with Wes Clark.

Both were fired and it cost them any hope of a political career. Even with the right wing spin machine, it would be a big mistake to try and court martial McChrystal because the story would stay in the news for a long time and McChrystal would be leaking all kinds of info about the Obama admin during that whole time. If he is just fired he goes away to write his book and the news will loss interest in him after a while.

[Abq_Sarah]

22. It would be a mistake on a zillion different levels

To convene a court martial.

It would be akin to putting the President's handling of the war on trial because that would be McChrystal's defense.

[Lil Missy]

18. If this happened to bush people would be demanding the death penalty.

[Abq_Sarah]

24. And we would be lauding him as a hero

If a general has a problem with his CIC, he can voice his opinion after he resigns. You don't run your mouth while you're wearing the uniform, period. And that goes for any President.

[Lil Missy]

25. Whoosh! Did you miss the point?

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

23. I wouldn't be surprised if McChrystal runs for the Republican nomination.