Barack Obama Furious at General Stanley McChrystal Speech on Afghanistan
The relationship between President Barack Obama and the commander of Nato forces in Afghanistan has been put under severe strain by Gen Stanley McChrystal's comments on strategy for the war.
By Alex Spillius in Washington
Published: 7:00AM BST 05 Oct 2009
Photo: AFP/GETTY
US General Stanley McChrystal
According to sources close to the administration, Gen McChrystal shocked and angered presidential advisers with the bluntness of a speech given in London last week.
The next day he was summoned to an awkward 25-minute face-to-face meeting on board Air Force One on the tarmac in Copenhagen, where the president had arrived to tout Chicago's unsuccessful Olympic bid.
Asked if the president had told the general to tone down his remarks, he told CBS: "I wasn't there so I can't answer that question. But it was an opportunity for them to get to know each other a little bit better. I am sure they exchanged direct views."
An adviser to the administration said: "People aren't sure whether McChrystal is being na茂ve or an upstart. To my mind he doesn't seem ready for this Washington hard-ball and is just speaking his mind too plainly."
In London, Gen McChrystal, who heads the 68,000 US troops in Afghanistan as well as the 100,000 Nato forces, flatly rejected proposals to switch to a strategy more reliant on drone missile strikes and special forces operations against al-Qaeda.
He told the Institute of International and Strategic Studies that the formula, which is favoured by Vice-President Joe Biden, would lead to "Chaos-istan".
When asked whether he would support it, he said: "The short answer is: No."
He went on to say: "Waiting does not prolong a favorable outcome. This effort will not remain winnable indefinitely, and nor will public support."
The remarks have been seen by some in the Obama administration as a barbed reference to the slow pace of debate within the White House.
Gen McChrystal delivered a report on Afghanistan requested by the president on Aug 31, but Mr Obama held only his second "principals meeting" on the issue last week.
He will hold at least one more this week, but a decision on how far to follow Gen McChrystal's recommendation to send 40,000 more US troops will not be made for several weeks.
A military expert said: "They still have working relationship but all in all it's not great for now."
Some commentators regarded the general's London comments as verging on insubordination.
Bruce Ackerman, an expert on constitutional law at Yale University, said in the Washington Post: "As commanding general, McChrystal has no business making such public pronouncements."
He added that it was highly unusual for a senior military officer to "pressure the president in public to adopt his strategy".
Relations between the general and the White House began to sour when his report, which painted a grim picture of the allied mission in Afghanistan, was leaked. White House aides have since briefed against the general's recommendations.
The general has responded with a series of candid interviews as well as the speech. He told Newsweek he was firmly against half measures in Afghanistan: "You can't hope to contain the fire by letting just half the building burn."
As a divide opened up between the military and the White House, senior military figures began criticising the White House for failing to tackle the issue more quickly.
They made no secret of their view that without the vast ground force recommended by Gen McChrystal, the Afghan mission could end in failure and a return to power of the Taliban.
"They want to make sure people know what they asked for if things go wrong," said Lawrence Korb, a former assistant secretary of defence.
Critics also pointed out that before their Copenhagen encounter Mr Obama had only met Gen McChrystal once since his appointment in June.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnew鈥?/a>|||When you Hire a man the caliber of Stanley McCrystal. And you tell
him to get the job done. He will. Do not ask him to kiss your ***, or
play a political game with you, He won't. Obama took McCrystal as
his commander, because he thought it made him Obama look like
he knew what he was doing. What he forgot, Was Not only did stanley
know what he was doing. He refuses to be used as a pawn like the
rest of the Obama minions. So once again . Obama right choice for
the wrong reasons.|||I wouldn't trust Obama to take out my trash ! He is playing political games with our soldiers lives, he plans to formally deny the troop request, but he won't, until after he has taken over the Health Care system , Bank on it !! You heard it here first !!|||Trust is EARNED and His Majesty hasn't earned our trust.|||I trust the private who was just came back from a firefight against the Taliban, over what some fraudulently-elected naive fool of a President thinks what should happen in Afghanistan.
So I would have to trust the judgement of General McCrystal, or any military personnel over what a two-bit politician thinks. What's next, Al Gore worried about the war because it's not "green" enough?
First, get the politicians out of the way and let the military in the field do it's job. If that requires unrelenting firepower and massive force, then let it happen. Throwing a few Predators in the mix isn't going to win the war.
We're not there to "see it from their point of view" which is the touchy-feely way things are done now. The only way the Taliban should be understood, is for tactical reasons. Not to "see it from their perspective" and the ever popular, "we shouldn't judge others."|||I thought Wayne Gretzky was "the Great One".|||I will trust the general any day of the week over some some fool who has only read about war and now thinks he is an expert.... one who would rather be right that worry about our people dying in Afghanistan.
What in hell is wrong with our presidents that they value our lives so little.... Bush starts wars, lets 5000 die without blinking and Obama , our great savior seems intent on continuing that practise. Neither one of them ever in uniform or even having a clue about fighting and dying and war.
i am sick of us hiring people with no experience to protect our country... Obama doesn't know anything but making speeches. Bush didn't know anything period... is it so hard that we have a president who has more than one brain cell. Idiots.. all of them!
No comments:
Post a Comment