A Challenge to Civilian Rule?

The Rolling Stone Suddenly Stopped

Recently labeled as the "Runaway General," General Stanley McChrystal was once the leader of the American forces in Afghanistan, but has now suddenly found himself retired after a controversial interview with Rolling Stone Magazine. The interview pits the General against President Obama and elaborates about how McChrystal apparently bullied Obama and felt that he was ill equipped to run the war, to put it nicely. As of this morning, Obama had accepted McChrystal's resignation ( in other words, fired him in a nice way) and replaced him with the only man he knew the country would accept, General Petraeus . Let's delve deeper into this issue and find out exactly what was said, and if those comments warranted the replacement of the only general in world history who even had limited success in a war in Afghanistan.


Go Team America

The six page interview has actually been condensed by the media to come down to to just three pages of smack talk, and at that its really just the first three. In these pages, two observations can be found. First, that although McChrystal originally supported President Barack Obama, the honeymoon period was soon to end. The other observation is that his dislike is not levied at Obama alone but spills over into most of his surrounding advisers.

The article relates how McChrystal initially supported Obama, even voting for him in the election but that soon after his first meeting with him that opinion changed. According to unnamed sources close to McChrystal, the General thought the President looked "uncomfortable and intimidated" by the army brass. And according to another adviser to General McChrystal, their second meeting didn't fair any better, being what he called, nothing more than a "10 minute photo-op." The source claimed that Obama didn't know anything about him and that he wasn't very engaged, which seemed to disappoint McChrystal.

This then turned into a relationship where the General was considered the bully who pushed President Obama around and made him commit more troops to the war effort. Something the president was loathe to do.

The second point that could be made is that General McChrystal did not care for most of the President's top advisers, including: retired General Jim Jones, Senator John McCain, Senator John Kerry, and Richard Holbrooke (the special envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan). Sources (once again McChystal never actually says any these so called slanders) claim that McChrystal thinks that the politicians just mess up the effort because they have no real time investment. They can tour, then give a speech, then leave the army to clean up the end game.

Seemingly the only top Obama person McChrystal likes is Secretary of State Hillary Clinton who backed him during his request for a troop surge. Reportedly, Clinton had advised Obama to give McChrystal what he wants.

(To read the article itself please click, here.)

Grounds For Termination?

So now I just have one question: what was said that was so bad that it required immediate resignation? Nothing, people near him told the press that the General does not like the President, big deal. Since when is ambivalence towards one of your co-workers anything new? Yet is seems that the President can't deal with people criticizing him from within his own administration, just ask former Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair.

Mr. President, I have to ask why you would remove the only general, since Genghis Khan, who has had any success in a war in Afghanistan. The Russians killed millions of people there during the 1980's and yet they too left in defeat. This does not seem to be a very intelligent move for someone who plans on ending the war next year. Not only that, but the grounds presented for his removal was that his statements coalesced to become a challenge to civilian rule, yet his words were not threatening in nature. Never did General McChrystal ever claim that Obama should be replaced or the Presidency itself restructured. He called Obama uninterested in the war and a disappointment, which is nothing knew to the American people. So Obama get over yourself and I hope you reap your rewards for replacing McChrystal because the world is watching.

Later,
Cody

(photo: courtesy of Getty Images)