In a bombshell interview with Rolling Stone, General Stanley McChrystal, the man in charge of the U.S. war efforts in Afghanistan, has taken President Obama to task for the declining situation there. And it will likely cost the general his job.
The article explains McChrystal and Obama met during a meeting of senior military brass at the Pentagon shortly after Obama took office. Obama, longtime friend of '60s radicals like Bill Ayers, was said to look "uncomfortable and intimidated" by all the officers in the room. McChrystal, who was appointed by the president after General David McKiernan was given the sack, was said to be "disappointed" in an obviously "unprepared" Obama, who knew nothing about his new general despite decades of decorated service.
Personally, I never saw McChrystal as a good fit for a radical Leftist like Obama -- but the article explains that (for some reason) McChrystal voted for the obviously inexperienced, military-shy for Obama.
McChrystal's reputation as an all-around badass started from Vietnam where he was reported to have drank cobra venom to develop a tolerance for it, and through words and deeds quickly became known as one of the baddest mothertruckers in the military, a rep bolstered by years of mostly covert ops. A skilled tactician with an encyclopedic knowledge of terrorism and counterinsurgency, McChrystal was later appointed to fight the War on Terror, by the Bush Administration, and racked up impressive kills in Iraq. It was McChrystal's operation that led to the killing of Iraq's most feared terrorist, Abu Musab Al Zarqawi, and the general's fingerprints were said to be over many other operations.
His counterinsurgency expertise seemingly made him the perfect person to head up the doings in Afghanistan, the fighting of which Obama promised to train his famous laser-like focus on before announcing a withdrawal date to friend and foe alike.
But the article points out that the general’s and his staff, "...a handpicked collection of killers, spies, geniuses, patriots, political operators and outright maniacs", often see their work undone (or at least fucked up on a daily basis) by Obama's pandering diplomatic team, especially U.S. Ambassador Karl Eikenberry, Special Representative to Afghanistan Richard Holbrooke -- labeled "a huge jerk" ini the piece -- and National Security Advisor Jim Jones, who McChrystal labels a "clown".
It's tensions between these two teams -- the military and the diplomatic -- that have led to bombshell leaks in the press (including McChrystal's call for 40,000 more troops in Afghanistan, that some say forced Obama's hand to get him to commit near that number, 30,000, to the fight) and have compromised the mission there.
Others point fingers at McChrystal, saying his eagerness to put Afghan hearts and minds first have endangered U.S. soldiers' lives in country.
McChrystal has since apologized for his words in the article, but nonetheless, a "furious" Obama has summoned the general back to the White House on what's expected to be a one-way-trip for his career.
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