Community | June 22, 2010 | 12 comments

General Stanley McChrystal Bails on Afghanistan Strategy

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ampersand
Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the top US commander in Afghanistan has been summoned to Washington in the wake of a magazine article that quotes him and aides criticizing senior Obama administration officials and diplomats.

Gen Stanley McChrystal has apologized over the article in Rolling Stone.
In it, Gen McChrystal is quoted as saying he feels betrayed by US ambassador to Kabul Karl Eikenberry.

The general's aides mock Vice-President Joe Biden and say he is "disappointed" with President Barack Obama.

Gen McChrystal says he felt "betrayed" by the US Ambassador Karl Eikenberry during the White House debate on troop requests for Afghanistan.

Gen McChrystal suggests Mr Eikenberry was using a leaked internal memo that questioned the troop requests as a way to protect himself from future criticism over the deployment. "Here's one that covers his flank for the history books. Now if we fail, they can say, 'I told you so'."

Gen McChrystal also appears to joke in response to a question about the vice-president.
"Are you asking about Vice-President Biden?" McChrystal asks. "Who's that?"
An aide then says: "Biden? Did you say: Bite Me?"

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/world/us_and_canada/10372558.stm
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    Afghanistan War Joe Biden Karl Eikenberry General Stanley McCrystal
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12 comments // General Stanley McChrystal Bails on Afghanistan Strategy

  • galwayman
    • 0
      galwayman  
    • Having read his comments I'd have to say he is right in everything he said! The Democrats couldn't run a war right,a war to win,and vietnam was their first test,once LBJ had left office it was too late for the republicans to do anything but to continue a losing strategy! The current occupant of the White House has no real interest in winning a war against Islam,for the simple reason that he is sympathetic to Islam's world view and should be impeached!

    • 1 year ago
  • srg
    • -1
      srg  
    • hussien obama's mutada...jeremiah wright screams from the pulpit ..."WHITE MAN'S GREED ...DRIVES THE WORLD'S NEED!!!

      This spoken by a bum who lives off of donations. A millionaire who never worked a day in his life.

      These racists love to rhyme don't they? It's like they believe if they can rhyme it...that makes it true.

      These po folk he pretends to care about...they been po for 10,000 years...America has been a prosperous nation for less than 200 years. Who's fault it be da other 9,800 years?

      I am a soldier. I am an American. I am a male. AND...I am white. and STILL...tho michele cain't dun bee unnerstandin it...

      I am NOT ASHAMED! NOT of my RACE! NOT of my FELLOW SOLDIERS! ( who arent baby killers OR enemies of the state). NOT of my COUNTRY!...

      I AM NOT ASHAMED. Hear me jihadists. racists. left wing hacks & radicals. I AM NOT ASHAMED. I AM WHITE AND PROUD. My race and my nation have helped billions across this planet. billions. We've given aide to more people than mc donalds has served hamburgers. Oh and by the way, did I mention that most of them were....black. ooh waht the truth does to your twisted racist rant.

      but come november, if we dont cut this angry racist off at the knees in the election...take away his power & render him a lame duck final 2...THEN for the first time in my adult life...I WILL be ashamed of my country.

    • 1 year ago
  • srg
    • -1
      srg  
    • Mutada Jeremian Wright screams from his pulpit like adolph hitler...(if you put the two of them split-screen you could not tell the difference. Thier mannerisms, their intensity, thier unbridled racial hatred...both clinching thier fists, screaming, pounding thier chests, invoking the name of thier twisted god, even thier audiences share the same mentality...

      THIS is who hussien obama is. The dark angry punisher of America in general and white men in particular.

    • 1 year ago
  • srg
    • -1
      srg  
    • HEY GENERAL! While you're there at the Mosque ask hussien obama why American soldiers sent to prison for slapping islamic jihadists still languish in Prison while muslim terrorists ...who severe american heads with butcher knives ...then put it on the web for the victims families to see...were shown "understanding and compassion"... lay on the beach in the south seas plotting jihad on thier free obama computers?

      When a black muslim murders 13 of his fellow american soldiers hussien obama says we should be "understanding"...why , then do you show NO understanding for OUR SOLDIERS? Is it because you consider them enemies of the state? Who ARE "your soldiers", then?

      Perhaps because they are white soldiers, they deserve NO UNDERSTANDING.

    • 1 year ago
  • curtisreed
    • 0
      curtisreed  
    • THE TRUTH HURTS
      who isn't disappointed with Obama? (actually, I never expected anything good out of him, he's just confirmed what I suspected)

    • 1 year ago
  • jaystyx
  • QuestionGeek
    • 0
      QuestionGeek  
    • What ever happened to free speech? I don't see why this should cause him to lose his job. Many commanders and higher echelon didn't hesitate to vocalize their disgust with President Bush , Cheney and Rumsfeld. Were they fired?

    • 1 year ago
  • CarlosIsDown
    • 0
      CarlosIsDown  
    • QuestionGeek:

      If you talk shit about your boss, you will be fired. Why would anyone want someone around who just talks shit?

      What commanders talked shit about Bush, Cheney or Rumsfeld? If it was after the gig was over, that's different.

    • 1 year ago
  • Sexirobot
    • 0
      Sexirobot  
    • QuestionGeek:

      umm, ever heard of George Casey...plus it doesn't matter any ways...we have a civilian controlled military for a reason. The generals are there to execute the mission...if they want to share their opinions...do it in privacy. If they decide to get on a soapbox before retiring, the hand the people put in charge gets to decide their fate.

    • 1 year ago
  • QuestionGeek
  • Mcellie
    • 0
      Mcellie  
    • Image
    • http://www.theawl.com/2010/06/heres-some-of-the-rolling-stone-mcchrystal-profile

      this site and others have pdfs of the article, which are more design fun to read than web versions. going to see if I have time to buy a copy, interesting read. Does seem to hint towards the distance between diplomatic and military sides of operations in Afghanistan (sounds like both have different ideas and attitudes to key people) that inner conflict is probably why process is so slow and sometimes failing to improve.

      plus, I think via twitter armando iannucci (thick of it) is on another fact finder in Washington, perfect timing?

    • 1 year ago
  • ampersand
    • +1
      ampersand  
    • You know things are imploding fast when the generals jump ship and things start to descend into a fast game of finger-pointing.

      If this wasn't a well-paid fully volunteer army the next thing you'd see in Afghanistan would be the start of full-scale fragging of commanding officers.
      That's why the Pentagon got so fully behind that all volunteer army after their "education" in the Vietnam of trying to wage an ill-advised un-winnable criminal war with soldiers who might be in a position to question what was going on.

    • 1 year ago
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