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Title: Stan McChrystal's Flying Circus
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URL Source: http://original.antiwar.com/huber/2 ... tan-mcchrystals-flying-circus/
Published: Oct 28, 2009
Author: Jeff Huber
Post Date: 2009-10-28 06:33:19 by Ada
Keywords: None
Views: 206
Comments: 21
Gen. Stanley McChrystal, commander in Afghanistan and Monty Python fan, has put on quite a show of insubordination in the past month or so in an attempt to cram his escalation plan down the world’s throat. He has waged open information warfare in the media, right-wing and otherwise, against President Barack Obama. I wonder how much longer Obama will put up with it. More to the point, I wonder if he can stand up to it. The main thing to remember about McChrystal is that he’s part of the "King David" Petraeus court, and Petraeus is now a de facto Praetorian governor as head of Central Command (CENTCOM) and the most powerful officer in the U.S. military. McChrystal was Petraeus’ handpicked choice to replace Gen. David McKiernan, who apparently didn’t spend enough nights in Petraeus’ tent. About halfway through September, media leaks suggested McChrystal might resign if he didn’t get his way on the Afghanistan escalation. Then he leaked his grim assessment of Afghanistan to Bob Woodward of the Washington Post that warned the mission would fail if he didn’t get more troops assigned there. He did his 60 Minutes gig, a puff piece designed to make him look like a thoughtful, sensitive superman (he barely eats or sleeps, he runs six miles every morning, and he’s a great guy). On 60 Minutes he lamented that since he took command in Afghanistan he’s only talked to Obama once. That’s how things are supposed to work, though; Petraeus is in between Obama and McChrystal in the military chain of command, something you need to use in the military to avoid rampant chaos. Petraeus, of course, is used to ignoring the chain of command. It barely existed in the Bush/Cheney regime. As commander in Iraq, Petraeus consistently went behind then-CENTCOM chief Adm. William Fallon’s back to get what he wanted directly from the White House. The Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC), the Middle East commando unit McChrystal ran as a three-star, appears to have been taking orders directly from Dick Cheney, who as vice president had no legal standing in the military chain of command at all. Journalist Seymour Hersh called the JSOC "an executive assassination ring." McChrystal has gotten a total pass on his involvement with the Pat Tillman cover-up, as well as for his involvement in torture. This guy is used to getting away with anything and everything he feels like doing. No wonder he doesn’t care what his boss, the president, thinks about him. At a speech to a war-centric think-tank in London, McChrystal derided Vice President Joe Biden’s proposal to adopt a low footprint counter-terror campaign. Obama apparently took McChrystal to the woodshed in the back of Air Force One over that, but didn’t seem to do much good. A Dexter Filkins’ Oct. 14 New York Times Magazine article, "Stanley McChrystal’s Long War," was an even bigger piece of war pornography than the 60 Minutes infomercial. "Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal stepped off the whirring Black Hawk and headed straight into town. He had come to Garmsir, a dusty outpost along the Helmand River in southern Afghanistan, to size up the war that President Obama has asked him to save. McChrystal pulled off his flak jacket and helmet. His face, skeletal and austere, seemed a piece of the desert itself." Filkins is gargling on McChrystal’s precious bodily fluids. He has turned into a bigger camp follower of McChrystal than Thomas E. Ricks has been of Petraeus. McChrystal flew in unannounced to a NATO summit and sweet-talked Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen into endorsing his cockamamie counterinsurgency plan. The biggest problem with McChrystal’s surge plan is that it won’t work, any more than the surge in Iraq did. As Boston University professor and retired Army officer Andrew Bacevich notes, Iraq "is bizarrely trumpeted in some quarters as a ’success’ and even more bizarrely seen as offering a template for how to turn Afghanistan around." Afghanistan is a far more complex problem than Iraq, and Iraq is plenty complex. Gen. Ray Odierno, now commander in Iraq, says the insurgency there may go on for another 15 years. The insurgency in Afghanistan may go on for another 50 years. As Bacevich says, the war there is one "we can’t win." I couldn’t agree more. That suits the long-war cartel just fine. As tax dollar rip-offs go, it’s as good as the bank bailout. Defense contracts for all my Facebook friends! McChrystal says job one in Afghanistan is to protect civilians, yet we keep killing them, and we’ll continue to kill them. Among the harshest untruths of our counterinsurgency doctrine is the myth that you can separate the civilian population from the insurgents. You can’t. Insurgents live where they fight; they have nowhere else to go. Our war on terror has never had much to do with terror. The neocons, who wrote the template for the foreign policy collision with the brick wall of destiny that we are presently on, merely wanted to turn America into a 21st-century version of ancient Rome. Like Rome, we are about to become captives of our Praetorian Guard, our military elites, the likes of Stan McChrystal and his mentor Petraeus and their puppet boss, Defense Secretary Robert Gates. As renaissance political scientist Niccolo Machiavelli noted, the ascendance of the Praetorian Guard caused the fall of Rome. As he said in The Art of War, the Praetorian Guard became "insolent and formidable" and "put many emperors to death and then disposed of the empire as it pleased." We’re at a perilous point in the American experiment. Unless Obama can get control of our modern Praetorians, our republic will become, once and for all, a militaristic oligarchy. That would sadden our founders to no end.
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#1. To: Ada (#0)
Yet another attempt to shift the blame for this fiasco from the "government" to the military. All Obama has to do is pick up the phone and say the word to sack McChrystal and he will be back in the US in less than 24 hours. That was done to McKiernan. Either Obama is the Commander in Chief or he is the Commander in Hiding. For over a year Obama has been a very loud mouth by saying there will be...NO WITHDRAWAL FROM AFGHANISTAN... That was and is Obama, not the military, not McChrystal. The author is just another whiner trying to shift blame off Obama and it wont work.
Oh dear, you have SUCH a bad attitude about The Messiah, The One. Tsk, tsk, tsk. You need to get with the program, let yourself go, strap on the kneepads, and revel in His light and groove with The Savior. You'll thank me afterwards. :P
I believe that your criticism is a bit misplaced. I think the author is putting the reponsibility squarely on 'Bama's shoulders. Unless Obama can get control of our modern Praetorians, our republic will become, once and for all, a militaristic oligarchy. That would sadden our founders to no end. The warning here is that if the civilian leadership can't or won't keep tight hold on the reins of power, that power will slip away and fall into the hands of the military. That, as you often remind us, is history
randge... That is the opening statement... Insubordination (and it was) can never be tolerated by a CIC... MacArthur was an American legend but he WAS insubordinate, Mac also was right, Truman was wrong. Truman cut the feet out from under MacArthur by ordering him not to win and not to lose. It was okay for Americans to die, Truman could accept that. (I was a part of that fiasco) Now, we have a similar mess with Afghan, you cannot withdraw, but I will not give you any troops for a possibility of winning. Now if we get thrown out, guess what, McChrystal would be given the blame. No one despises the military more than myself, from experience I also know when a fall guy has to be found, it will be found in the military. Never in the government. You may recall MacArthur first infuriated Truman way back in 1945 when he made the public statement that the US should have troops in Japan for ONLY ONE YEAR, then withdraw and turn it over to the UN. Truman was beside himself. Notice that word withdraw???? Sixty five years later we are still in Japan. Another example, Ike was promoted over 150 senior officers to be commander in Europe, when he invaded France, he made two recordings, one the landing was a success, the other...WE WERE WITHDRAWING...the landing was a failure. Even Roosevelt did not close the escape door on Ike. Check google, you will find hundreds of references before and after the election of Obama saying for the record that withdrawal from Afghan was not an option... Damned if I want to be the ground commander. Remember, Obama has only to pick up the phone and McChrystal is gone in disgrace.
Gen. Stanley McChrystal, commander in Afghanistan and Monty Python fan, has put on quite a show of insubordination in the past month randge... That is the opening statement... Insubordination (and it was) can never be tolerated by a CIC... MacArthur was an American legend but he WAS insubordinate, Mac also was right, Truman was wrong. Truman cut the feet out from under MacArthur by ordering him not to win and not to lose. It was okay for Americans to die, Truman could accept that. (I was a part of that fiasco) Now, we have a similar mess with Afghan, you cannot withdraw, but I will not give you any troops for a possibility of winning. Now if we get thrown out, guess what, McChrystal would be given the blame. No one despises the military more than myself, from experience I also know when a fall guy has to be found, it will be found in the military. Never in the government. You may recall MacArthur first infuriated Truman way back in 1945 when he made the public statement that the US should have troops in Japan for ONLY ONE YEAR, then withdraw and turn it over to the UN. Truman was beside himself. Notice that word withdraw???? Sixty five years later we are still in Japan. Another example, Ike was promoted over 150 senior officers to be commander in Europe, when he invaded France, he made two recordings, one the landing was a success, the other...WE WERE WITHDRAWING...the landing was a failure. Even Roosevelt did not close the escape door on Ike. Check google, you will find hundreds of references before and after the election of Obama saying for the record that withdrawal from Afghan was not an option... Damned if I want to be the ground commander. Remember, Obama has only to pick up the phone and McChrystal is gone in disgrace.
Thanks for the history lesson, Cyni. Just another example of history repeating itself. In the meantime, while buckwheat goes around the country trying to get other dems elected, we lost six more Americans in Afghanistan. Just another self-absorbed and arrogant POS who has no idea what he has to do.
If what you are implying is that the General's hide is going to being hung out to dry for this one, you make a persuasive case. But it's going to require a lot of sophisticated maneuvering on the CIC's part to keep him from being tarred by the same brush. He is surrounded by a lot of skillful Machiavellian talent, so this too might be managed. In any case, the ball is in his court, and it's apparent that he is doesn't relish his position at the moment one bit. A pox on the system that has foisted this beggar upon us at this point in time.
Yes sir he is... Obama as CIC is between a rock and a hard place. We all believe there is no such thing as "winning" in Afghan???? I do not know anyone that does. That leaves the military in one hell of a fix, we cannot leave (the only honorable thing to do) and the CIC says "you must not lose" For the sake of discussion, lets cashier McChrystal and install Gen. Brownnose as field commander. Now what has changed????????? They already cashiered in disgrace Gen. McKiernan, where and when does it end????
Military conscription. I can hear the 'Bamster at his stentorian best: "I have today signed an order directing the Selective Service System . . ." (You fill in the rest.) We are too forward positioned everywhere to pull out of this one. We are going for broke. The president's hand will be forced.
We already have had a recent situation in which what you say about the President being in charge was not true. The last time the MIC (of which Cheney is still an influential member) decided to go "Praetorian Guard" on a President was on Nov. 22, 1963. Obama is a narcissist, not a wannabe martyr. He will do as he is told.
“I would give no thought of what the world might say of me, if I could only transmit to posterity the reputation of an honest man.” - Sam Houston
I love one liners that go right to crux of the matter. Go one step further. We are 7000 air miles from Iraq/Afghan. Russia and or China can walk to war. Called geopolitics, trumps politics every time. Factual...When the Chinese had enough messing around in their backyard of Korea, they walked across the line in their padded uniforms, a rifle, ammo and a bag of rice, firing as they came. We could not kill them fast enough, our grunts had to run for their lives.
Agreed. His managers and MSM are trying desperately to portray Obama as the wise, all knowing, careful planning President. He cannot keep firing ground commanders, whether he should or not is not relevant. This mess is showing him to be weak, indecisive, AND NOT HIS OWN MAN.
And if you subscribe to Colodny and Gettlin's thesis in their book, you can add Richard M. Nixon's resignation from the presidency on Aug. 8, 1974. Dick dissed the Pentagon in keeping secret from them his negotiations with the Russians, the Chinese and Hanoi all at the same time. He pushed all of their buttons in keeping them out of the loop.
Israel and Afghanistan Israel Pursues Afghan Ties To Spy On Tehran FROM CHRISTOPHER WALKER IN JERUSALEM ISRAEL has been cultivating secret arms staff executed intelligence contacts with rival Islamic movements in Afghanistan with a view to installing sophisticated spying equipment to monitor Iranian nuclear arms development. According to senior Western security sources, the pursuit of ties with Afghanistan - with which Israel has no diplomatic relations - and closer military links with Turkey are part of an Israeli plan to launch a pre-emptive strike against Iranian nuclear installations before Tehran gains a nuclear capability. The Government of Binyamin Netanyahu is worried that a nuclear Iran would tip the balance of power in favour of hardliners across the Middle East. Mossad, the Israeli secret service, estimates that Iran will complete development of the Shahab 3 ballistic missile, capable of hitting Israeli cities, in 18 months and be able to build its first atomic bomb by 2002. The first hint of the secret Israeli-Afghan contacts came in the latest edition of the British-based newsletter Foreign Report, noted for its intelligence sources. It was confirmed by Israeli officials and published yesterday in the Tel Aviv press. At the same time, Itim, the Israeli news agency, reported: "Incoming Israeli Chief of Staff Shaul Mofaz met on Monday two senior Turkish Army generals as Israel and Turkey moved to tighten their relations." Maariv, the Tel Aviv daily, quoted Foreign Report as claiming that, as far back as the 1991 Gulf War, Israel had decided to reach out to Islamic countries, including Afghanistan. The paper continued: "The ties with the large Muslim country will help the establishment of important intelligence bases along the border with Iran. Over the past few months ... Israel opened up two secret channels: the first with the previous Afghan Government [ousted in September l996] ... and the second with the present Taleban regime in Kabul." Since the recent escalation of the arms race caused by the rival Indian and Pakistani nuclear tests, Israel's attempts to woo the two main opposing centres of Islamic power in Afghanistan have accelerated. Yediot Aharonot, the mass circulation Tel Aviv daily, quoted Foreign Report - often used as a conduit for leaking Israeli stories abroad and thus circumventing Israel's strict military censorship restrictions - as disclosing: "Israel, which is concerned about the Iranian nuclear race, hopes that its Afghan ties will enable it to install listening devices and advanced spy equipment adjacent to the Iranian border." Eytan Bentsur, the Director-General of the Israeli Foreign Ministry, confirmed that initial contacts had taken place between Israeli diplomats and repesentatives of the Afghan rivals with the purpose of forging diplomatic ties regardless of which faction retains control of Kabul
Confirmation??? Check the rash of bombings in Pakistan, Afghan and Iraq, all at the same time. Coordinated effort (money) by someone????? You betcha.
good find!
M19 self-propelled antiaircraft guns guns of the 82nd Battalion give cover to the M46 Patton tanks and men of the US Armys 2nd Division during their hazardous retreat south from the Yalu River, following the surprise Chinese winter offensive. For over a year Obama has been a very loud mouth by saying there will be...NO WITHDRAWAL FROM AFGHANISTAN... excellent points, Cyni.
Classmate of mine was wounded early on in Korea. Recuperating in Japan he thought he was on his way home, WRONG. He was flown from Japan to Korea, taken out of infantry and placed in an artillery unit so he could ride in a truck instead of walking. When the Chinese came in, they were firing across a narrow valley into hordes of Chinese, killing them by the hundreds but they kept coming. They could not kill enough fast enough, finally at the last moment they spiked their guns and ran for their lives. He was again wounded so badly he was flown to the States for medical care. He always said, never go near the Chinese, leave them alone. We never learn.
My Uncle said that they lowered anti-aircraft guns to the horizon and piled up chinks like you couldn't imagine..."hordes of chinamen"
On the internet somewhere there is a video of such a thing, bugles and all. Friends of mine told of using B-29s to drop hundreds of 500 pounders at low altitude on the massed Chinese front lines. If memory serves me correct, I think China lost more men than all others combined, I seem to recall they admitted to several thousand freezing to death in the mountains.Life means nothing to them.
That suits the long-war cartel just fine.
#2. To: Cynicom (#1)
Mike Flaherty: Yeah, it's been there a long time. I wish I knew which corner.
My Man Godfrey (1936)
#3. To: Cynicom (#1)
The author is just another whiner trying to shift blame off Obama and it wont work.
#4. To: Esso (#2)
Gen. Stanley McChrystal, commander in Afghanistan and Monty Python fan, has put on quite a show of insubordination in the past month
#5. To: randge, esso (#3)
Below was meant for randge not Esso...
#6. To: Cynicom (#4)
Check google, you will find hundreds of references before and after the election of Obama saying for the record that withdrawal from Afghan was not an option...
#7. To: Cynicom (#5)
#8. To: randge (#7)
. He is surrounded by a lot of skillful Machiavellian talent,
#9. To: Cynicom (#8)
where and when does it end????
#10. To: Cynicom (#1)
As commander in Iraq, Petraeus consistently went behind then-CENTCOM chief Adm. William Fallon’s back to get what he wanted directly from the White House. The Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC), the Middle East commando unit McChrystal ran as a three-star, appears to have been taking orders directly from Dick Cheney, who as vice president had no legal standing in the military chain of command at all.
#11. To: randge, Jethro tull (#9)
We are too forward positioned everywhere to pull out of this one
#12. To: Sam Houston (#10)
He will do as he is told.
#13. To: Sam Houston (#10)
The last time the MIC (of which Cheney is still an influential member) decided to go "Praetorian Guard" on a President was on Nov. 22, 1963.
#14. To: Cynicom, all (#11)
AFTER the Gulf war, the Israeli government decided to enlarge its intelligence coverage to countries normally not on the 'hot list' of its intelligence services. Hence the 'Indian conection' (FOREIGN REPORT last week). We can now reveal that the Israelis opened another Asian channel: to the Islamic fundamentalist Taliban regime and its opponents in Afghanistan. What did the Israelis have in mind?
To counter Iran (perceived by the Israelis to be their deadly enemy) by establishing some sort of base or source of information across its northern border. The chances for success? Slim.
In recent months, the Israelis opened two secret channels of negotiations: the first with the former Afghan government, which now rules over the northern third of Afghanistan, and the second with the Taliban themselves, in Kabul.
Negotiations with the old government were supervised by the director-general of the foreign ministry, Eitan Ben-Tzur, who met a former cabinet minister at an undisclosed place. Other meetings took place in New York. We have also been told that former Afghan officials paid a secret visit to Israel recently. Their aim: to establish diplomatic relations. The problem: they tied this to progress in the Middle East peace process. If there was progress, the Taliban would go ahead with bilateral relations. If not, forget it. These secret talks did however lead to an Israeli gift of money for the victims of the recent earthquake.
More significant are the parallel negotiations between the Israelis and the Taliban, handled on the Israeli side by the Mossad spy service's department for foreign affairs (Tevel) rather than the foreign ministry. The Mossad wants to bring about the departure from Kabul of a fundamentalist Saudi millionaire said by some to be helping anti-Israeli guerrillas, Osama ben Laden. The Mossad is willing to pay a lot.
The big target for the Mossad and the military intelligence service, AMAN, is Iran. Israel is already using Turkey as a route for sending agents into Iran. Israel would increase its penetration if it could use Afghanistan for the same purpose. The Mossad and AMAN dream of being allowed to bring in high-tech monitoring equipment to Afghanistan to eavesdrop on Iran. They would have to share the results. Our prediction: This will remain pie in the sky as long as the peace process is stalled and Iran does not launch a campaign to eradicate the Taliban. If Iran threatened Kabul, however, the Taliban would need friends.
This related story appeared in the Times 19 June 1998
#15. To: Jethro Tull (#14)
#16. To: Jethro Tull (#14)
Israel Pursues Afghan Ties To Spy On Tehran
#17. To: Cynicom, randge, JT (#11)
Retreat from the Yalu by David Pentland
"If you love wealth more than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, depart from us in peace. We ask not your counsel nor your arms. Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you. May your chains rest lightly upon you and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen.”—Samuel Adams 
#18. To: Cynicom (#1)
Either Obama is the Commander in Chief or he is the Commander in Hiding.
#19. To: Rotara, randge, jethro tull, All (#17)
#20. To: Cynicom (#19)
"If you love wealth more than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, depart from us in peace. We ask not your counsel nor your arms. Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you. May your chains rest lightly upon you and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen.”—Samuel Adams
#21. To: Rotara (#20)
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