Bringing Out Obama’s Inner Harry Truman
I don’t know any more about General Stanley McChrystal's comments than what this article describes.
But I do remember, from being in the Navy a long time ago, that military personnel are prohibited from making public statements for or against an ongoing war; or anything else that’s government-related. It’s one of the longstanding ironies of being in the military: The First Amendment doesn’t apply to you; you’re just risking your life so everybody else can have it.
Oh, one other little thing: disrespecting your superior is a huge No-No. And like it or not, Commander-in-Chief Obama is senior to General McChrystal.
And I don’t remember reading any exceptions to the above rules. Nowhere in the UCMJ does it say “These rules no longer apply after you’ve been a member of the service for X years” or “After you’ve reached a certain rank, you can go ahead and disregard all this drivel.”
I hate to make political hay out of a sensitive international situation, especially when I don’t even know all of the details. But this is just Tooo Good.
THIS is President Obama’s chance to dig out from under that Michael Dukakis straitjacket — all intellect, no passion or emotion; all substance and no Elvis — and start acting more like Harry Truman.
Something about General Douglas MacArthur comes to mind…
Obama also came out swinging against the health insurance oligarchs and their skanky congressional prostitutes.
You go guy.
Labels: Douglas MacArthur, General Stanley McChrystal, Harry Truman, Michael Dukakis, Obama McChrystal
posted by Tom Harper @ 11:52 AM
17 Comments:
Just imagine what would happen if this happened under Bush/Cheney. Congress slammed the media for merely criticizing Petreaus.
If this is true, McChrystal's insubordination should result in his dismissal from command. I hear he's resented by the troops for his near treasonous cover-up and propagandist exploitation of the Pat Tillman incident.
Time for him to go.
Mr. Harper, I wholeheartedly concur with you on this and did a post myself regarding this topic today.
President Obama is recalling General McChrystal to the White House tomorrow. He should fire him for his comments, despit the fact that I am in agreement with the General's criticisms of Obama. McChrystal is out of line and was disrespectful of his Commander in Chief.
Totally agree, Obama needs to put his foot down, Truman style.
I completely agree with all of you who have commented on this one so far. I also believe part of the General's duty is to be respectful.
I think this is a very sad thing. I find nothing to be happy about in it. McChrystal is possibly one of our most gifted military leaders. Whether Obama fires McChrystal or not, this hurts on a number of levels.
I had not heard about the Pat Tillman angle... that is another sad story altogether.
Ya'know, if I gave an interview to Rolling Stone telling them what I really think of my boss, I wouldn't get the chance to "resign." I'd be canned outright.
McChrystal, more than just about anyone in the Army, has to live that oath he took. If he can get by with what he did, why should any grunt obey any of the general orders?
It's time for Stanley to go.
Has everybody here gone completely nutty and torn their yellow ribbon "Support Our Troops" magnets off their cars? How can our warriors be expected to war when what they say about our Kenyan born Islamic communist commander-in-chief can cost them their commission?
WE can only hope that if Gen. McChrystal is fired, he'll be given a job as a commentator on Fox News alongside other great warrior-hero patriots like Ollie North and Liz Cheney!
Lew
I'm sure he has that gig lined up. You don't screw with your job unless you have another all set to go.
Why the general was selected I'll never understand. Like someone said,
did Pat Tillman never exist. This bastard covered up the story.
Oh wait I have an idea...Bring them all home, 10 years is more than enough.
Dave: If any of Dumbya's generals had criticized Bush-Cheney, they would've been rendered to Uzbekistan for enhanced interrogation techniques.
TP: I'm glad we agree.
Mauigirl: Exactly. Obama as Truman.
Snave: You're right, there's no winner and no good side to any of this.
Bee: That's right. And the same standards that apply to millions of grunts and working stiffs need to apply to higher-ups too.
JR: Exactly. You can't have one set of laws for grunts and different rules for high-ranking officers. Not officially anyway.
Lew: General McChrystal on Fox News -- well, stranger things have happened.
Tim: It's way past time to bring the troops home. We went there supposedly to topple the Taliban, which we did (even if it was just temporary), and to capture/kill bin Laden. And that ship has sailed.
There is no excuse for McChrystal's insubordination or his joining in with the insubordination his staff engaged in. If Obama doesn't can this four-star clod's ornery butt, he will undercut every military instructor of officer candidates and basic trainees, and set a precedent for others who do this sort of thing to point to in defending themselves.
A sorry fucking excuse for a general officer and theater commander.
Never having been in the military, I can only guess at the tremendous stress General McChrystal must be under 24/7. IMO, this incident is just one more reason why we need to get the hell out of useless wars. We all do and say things we shouldn't when under tremendous stress. Should he have said what he said? Of course not. Is it understandable? To me, yes, it is understandable.
SW: Fortunately, Obama has now removed McChrystal from his command. I don't know whether this will help Obama's image or not. But if he hadn't done this, he'd look like the wimpiest president in history.
Carlos: Damn right. He needed to be removed from that position.
Kate: I have no idea what I'd do in a stressful position like McChrystal's. Not that I was ever in danger of rising to a high rank or anything. And I have no idea why we're still in Afghanistan. We accomplished our first goal immediately -- toppling the Taliban (even if it was just temporary). Finding bin Laden isn't gonna happen. He's either long dead (like a lot of people think) or he has a foolproof hiding place.
Well he has been kicked to the curb this morning and in his place Petraeus is now. Is that a kind of demotion for Petraeus though? Given that he was in charge of everything now he is just in charge of a piddly area? I don't know that whole military deal so I am just asking.
Jess: I don't know if that's a demotion for Petraeus or not. I'm just glad McChrystal got kicked to the curb.
As commander of the Army's Central Command, Petraus had overall control of troops in Afghanistan and Iraq, and some oversight, I'm sure, of drone operations in Pakistan, and any special-ops activity that might be going on there.
Under the circumstances, taking over direct command of the Afghanistan theater isn't a demotion. Petraeus gets to be the man of the hour and a priceless opportunity to shine, if he can get the Afghans doing what they need to do. That's a big if, true, but his hero status will be sealed for all time if he can pull it off.
Ultimately our military is run by Civilians. That was the way it was designed and that's the way it runs.
McChystal seems to forgotten that.
Erik
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