General concern

Cuffleyburgers

Remind me again - why are we there?

It seems to me that the original invasion was the right thing to do and was successfully accomplished.

The subsequent occupation has been an utter disaster - we have no sensible or achievable war aims oh sorry I forgot it's not a war, what the hell is it then?

The key thing is to leave them to get on with their lives.

We should point out to the government that if any help is needed with specific measurable time-limited military operations against the taliban, then help will be made available.

If Afganistan fails again and becomes a terrorist breeding ground then it will be invaded again.

What we then do is adopt a more sensible policy on drugs in the west, and thereby decriminalise the supply chain.

Improving transport links and opening up import markets to Afgan goods would also help.

In other words allow them to help themselves, and remind them that if they f@ck with us then they will be hammered.

Robert Taggart

Unlike Obay the General appears to be McChrystal clear !

Reg511

the fact that this is news demonstrates that Omaha is not a 'people person', bad PR Barry

davidk

Whenever high ranking miltary men start grandstanding like this it makes me very uneasy. Whether we care for Obama's administratiion or not, McChrystal needs slapping back into line as a signal to other members of the military who would place themselves on an equal footing with elected representatives of democratic governments.

THX1138

WTF was he thinking? Sounds like he was on the McChrystal meth !

adrian drummond

Daniel,

Are you not forgetting that his request for more troops for his surge strategy was/is only half met and even this decision was only taken after some very lengthy deliberation by Obama?

Amiens

Will McCrystal be a second McArthur or a second Eisenhower? Obama should be worried that it will be the latter and that a Republican Party bereft of credible Presidential candidates does not once again choose a General to follow in the bootsteps of Washington, Jackson, Grant & Eisenhower.

Neil Turner

Somebody remind me, who appointed him ?

David Booth

President Obama is being shown as increasingly out of his depth in the handling of international and domestic situations.
He comes across as petty and petulant with his talk about "Kicking arse" and pronouncing on situations before he knows all the details.
Barack Obama is a product of one of the most corrupt political machines in America; the Chicago Democratic Party, a fact the Press chose to ignore during the presidential contest. It's as if a man climbs out of a sewer and the Press all ignored the fact there is a bit of a whiff about him.
President Obama will be more concerned that Gen McChrystal will be a threat to him as a Republican candidate in the next Presidential Election rather than allowing the General to successfully conduct and win an expensive and bloody war.

Vulture

The General has as much chance of 'winning' this war as Gen. Wetmoreland had in 'Nam: ie. None at all.

Cowardly weakling O bummer is no Truman (Indeed, his polar opposite) so won't fire him.

The POTUS, like all politicians, is not worthy of shining the General's shoes.

Frank P

As I said elsewhere, Hastings will either get a Pulitzer, or a bulletzer next time he steps into a war zone. Depends on whether McCrystal willingly colluded in the article for political/tactical purposes, or his posse mouthed off an anecdote too far in the cups. Whichever, McCrystal's rap sheet gets an airing - interesting character!

Just think what Oliver Stone will make of it. Any suggestions for the leading role. Pity Lee Marvin isn't still around. Nobody of that calibre around any more.

What a mess. Imagine what it was like when the Russian Afghanistan campaign was in progress; I can't imagine the tenor of the 'policy' meetings during that debacle and eventual withdrawal. Did any of their military chiefs live to tell the tale, I wonder?

Verity

Pithily, and correctly, put, David Booth!

Vulture, d'acuerdo.

David Preiser

The arrogant McChrystal got caught by the Rolling Stone doing a gotcha piece, that's all.

As far as the President and the war in Afghanistan is concerned, it's a great strategy, the same he's using for the oil spill: give only half-hearted support to the effort, make the strategists work with one hand tied behind their backs, sit back, and watch the fun. When the outcry about the mess is loud enough, shut it all down, blame Bush and everyone else, be the hero to your followers, get a free pass from the press (but I repeat myself).

See, Gordon Brown just didn't do it very well. But the US President knows how to play the long game with human lives.

Verity

Cufflyburgers - "What we then do is adopt a more sensible policy on drugs in the west, and thereby decriminalise the supply chain."

Why, certainly, give in to the drug trade! Islam is, after all, all about submission. That is what the word "islam" means in Arabic. Give in!

yank

Well, quite obviously, the general should have kept his mouth shut. Civilians run affairs, for better or worse, and his job is to shut his mouth and do what he's told. He made the mistake of going to Paris for a shindig, and he and his staff spent the time drinking and cutting loose, with a Rolling Stone reporter recording it all. What a fool.

Sorry, but I have no mercy on this guy. He screwed up. He broke the code. Alcohol is a reason, but not good enough excuse. The rules of engagement controversy is another major problem. We can all do without this guy, he's no more indispensable than anybody else.

Obama takes a full measure of blame as well. His policy has been scattered, with far too many voices: the VP, he himself, Hillary, Holbrooke, the Afghani and Paki ambassadors, etc., and much of this is contradictory.

On top of that, Obama was the one who announced a firm pullout timeline. That timeline inevitably sets everybody's process onto a chain of events which may or may not include those necessary to execute Obama's overall strategy.

It is a potential deal killer all by itself, baked right into the cake, by his own hand.

This would be a good time for the nascent Cameron and company to establish straight and simple ideas on this, and get them pounded into everybody's skull. Not sure what's best, but the current course doesn't look overly promising.

Kevyn Bodman

The military must be subordinate to the civilian power.

The President should relieve him of his command now and take his chances if the General runs against him in 2012.
Even if Obama runs the risk of losing that election there is no doubt at all in my mind that this insurbordination cannot be tolerated.

It wouldn't matter if McChrystal was a better general than Napoleon, he'd still have to go.

But in fact he's shown very poor judgement.

And no general is indispensable or irreplaceable.

What would have happened if he hadn't woken up this morning?
The Army would have been expected to have 3 potential successors' names on the President's desk within 15 minutes.

If Obama has any balls he must sack McChrystal and he must assert civilian dominance over the military.

Verity

The General has tendered his resignation. Would that the sleazy Obama had the grace to do the same.