An Associate Press article was published today with a preview of an upcoming Rolling Stones article about General Stanley McChrystal, the commanding general in Afghanistan. According to the Associated Press, General McChrystal and his closest aides are documented by the Rolling Stone's reporter as expressing disappointment, distrust, and frustration with the Obama Administration.
Apparently, General McChrystal is quoted as saying he has to run the war in Afghanistan while never taking his eyes off his “real enemies. The wimps in the White House.”
General McChrystal felt “betrayed” by Ambassador Karl Eikenberry when one of his internal memos surfaced in November 2009 expressing doubts about the likelihood that General McChrystal’s strategy, which involved the “surge” of more troops, would succeed. General McChrystal claims that Ambassador Eikenberry never expressed those doubts to him.
According to the Associated Press, General McChrystal characterized last fall as “painful” when President Obama admonished him for being too public and too vocal about the need for more troops, which Vice President Joe Biden did not support. “I was selling an unsellable position.”
The article puts Secretary of State, Hilary Clinton, and Secretary of Defense, Robert Gates, among Administration officials who supported General McChrystal. Yet even with their support, President Obama spent months considering the surge and once he relented, he also established a timeline for pulling out of Afghanistan: July 2011.
General McChrystal’s closest aides reportedly mocked Vice President Biden and U.S. special Representative to Iraq and Afghanistan, Richard Holbrooke. They also expressed frustration with General McCrystal’s strict rules of combat.
The article, entitled, “The Runaway General,” will be on newsstands Friday.
Comments
This could be very interesting. I can't wait to hear the whole story.
I would not want to be McChrystal right now for a million dollars. I was shocked when I read what this article is supposedly revealing. I am EXTREMELY curious as to how Obama is going to respond to this...
Hard to believe that verbal errors with respect to the VP and a politically driven 'agenda' have been blown up to such an extent; one might think it's intentional to divert attention from the domestic agenda.
Apparently a 'policy' that has no real dirction other then 'quasi' nation building is difficult for the military to accept or understand. Seems everyone has forgotten why SW Asian confilicts were inititated.
I agree that this is suspect in the sense that it is hard to believe that McChrystal and his aides would be so blatantly offensive and openly disrespectful with a reporter. The military usually hates reporters. Also, what was the public affairs officer thinking when these things were being said? Was one even present? My only thought was that McChrystal wants out and this is his way out.
The same McCrystal who covered up teh murder of Pat Tillman? We should believe anything this man says? He should have been dishonorably discharged years ago.
Obama' administration is incompetent with the economy, the war and the response to the gulf - oil spill
Obama adminsration is simply incompetent and destroying our country
He wanted out, and found his ticket. ha hah ha :) maybe he can't sleep with his self.
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