For those of you not living in the USA or just too far gone in your World Cup haze a few days ago Rolling Stone magazine posted an article they will be publishing in their upcoming issue about Gen Stanley McChrystal. McChrystal, for those who don't know, is the man in charge of US military operations in Afghanistan.
The article,
The Runaway
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Comments 26
As my military father put it - "You chose this job and you do your fucking job. You don't bitch about it to anyone but the people who can change it and even then you don't bitch - you sell something better."
McChrystal is the scapegoat, the easy item to talk about rather than the stuff that truly needs to be addressed. People are dying for this. The military is sold on the "do it for your country" which means their tenet is that they're dying for us. If the top command can't fucking sell that, then something else of greater import is really ( ... )
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Either way, if you don't know that Rolling Stone is a liberal leaning magazine and thus probably not in support of what your war is and is about, how did you manage to grow up in the United States? Also as a magazine article, they don't have the "news" requirement of being impartial (not that they are, but they're *supposed* to be), so they went into this with their eyes open.
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I also agree with Tom's "anything you hear inside my tent is off the record until you check it with us."
This was not how to end a career like McChrystal's.
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What frustrates me is that the uproar over the comments (which were stupid, and his staff knew better, he knew better, and he ended up painting Obama into a corner) really has overshadowed the real meat of the story. As you pointed out, the general's own troops aren't sold on this strategy, and if you don't have the men whose lives are on the line behind you then you should be gone anyway.
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What frustrates me is that the uproar over the comments (which were stupid, and his staff knew better, he knew better, and he ended up painting Obama into a corner) really has overshadowed the real meat of the story. As you pointed out, the general's own troops aren't sold on this strategy, and if you don't have the men whose lives are on the line behind you then you should be gone anyway.
I said something to similar in comments above this one to romanticalgirl and kindoffdanceit. The fact of the matter is that when you are at this level you don't say shit like this, you just don't. You can think it all you want, you can yell in the shower and bitch to your reflection when you are shaving in the morning but you do not verbalize your doubts to a reporter from Rolling Stone and you do NOT let your men doubt you and the fucking strategic plan. McChrystal is not an enlisted man, he is not entitled to this sort of freedom. He gave that up for the stars on his uniform. So, to me, he threw this away with his cavalier attitude. That is upsetting and unfortunate. But ( ... )
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1. McChrystal's insubordination. General McChrystal is not an enlisted man, he is a four star general and when you are that high on the totem pole you have certain obligations. You have obligations to your men, to your president and to your stated objective. As I told breakthecitysky: The fact of the matter is that when you are at this level you don't say shit like this, you just don't. You can think it all you want, you can yell in the shower and bitch to your reflection when you are shaving in the morning but you do not verbalize your doubts to a reporter from Rolling Stone and you do NOT let your men doubt you and the fucking strategic plan. McChrystal is not an enlisted man, he is not entitled to ( ... )
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As I told romanticalgirl: I don't think McChrystal is a scapegoat I think he is a symptom of much MUCH bigger problems in the military, with these operations, with the administration and with the way the government operates as a whole, but you don't want me expounding for the next thirty ( ... )
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There was an astonishing lack of consideration or discussion of the people of Afghanistan in this article. I was pretty shocked to be honest. I mean the troops at least got a passing mention for their lack of faith in Command, but at no time were the people of Afghanistan mentioned. You'd think we weren't fighting this in their country. Or as we keep saying, "For them." Just another mark in the clusterfuck of that article.
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