GEN Stanley McChrystal.
Ninja Warrior by all accounts.
Apparently, not afraid to speak his mind?
The article goes on to paint McChrystal as a man who “has managed to piss off almost everyone with a stake in the conflict,” including U.S. Ambassador Karl Eikenberry, Special Representative to Afghanistan Richard Holbrooke and National Security Adviser Jim Jones.
Of Eikenberry, who railed against McChrystal’s strategy in Afghanistan in a cable leaked to The New York Times in January, the general said, “‘Here’s one that covers his flank for the history books. Now if we fail, they can say, “I told you so.’”
ADM Fallon walked away from CENTCOM for saying much, much less. And he was a COCOM.
I can’t imagine that GEN McChrystal will stay around much longer following this little bit of fun.
The big question is this… you don’t get to his level without knowing what you’re doing. There simply are no “Oh, I didn’t think that would get printed.” moments.
So, is he looking for an easy way out of a horrible problem as he tries to fight the Afghan war with the Iraq playbook and an administration that isn’t what you’d call 100% supportive?
or is he really this politically inept?
I think he believes he is politically astute. Whether he actually is is open to question. In terms of his motivation, I think it’s significant he is preemtively accusing others of trying to cover their asses in case his offensive and strategy fail. It’s clear this is his way of preemptively covering *his* ass, by accusing others of doing the same. He’s trying to setup the scenario that if he fails, it’s only because he was backstabbed by “the politicians”.
He’s going about this in a very childish and self-destructive way, however. Particularly in allowing his aides to denigrate the VP in public and on the record. This is just moronic, and suicidal. He’s dealing with a president that gave him almost everything he asked for. The only beef he could possibly have would be with the 2011 deadline for withdrawal. But the mature way to deal with that would be to propose a new date to Obama based on a new strategic situation and timetable. I’m sure Obama would listen to that, especially of McChrystal were showing progress on the ground.
And here, I think, is the real motivation. I think McChrystal is beginning to see that he is not going to have much progress to show for his efforts, particularly in Kandahar. So he’s switched to CYA mode, but in a very unsophisticated way. He doesn’t have the years of Pentagon experience under his belt that Petraeus had, and it shows.
See, now you’re ready to assume CNO in a few more years.
What’s CNO?
SHANE! Come back Shane, come back!
I’m not easily impressed. . . but that’s imrspeisng me!
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