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Debra J. Saunders
27 May 2012
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Rolling Stone Gathers a General

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During the George W. Bush presidency, the media were fixated with the need for military brass to be able to challenge the president. In the age of Obama, however, what once was hailed as principled dissent has morphed into intolerable insubordination.

Witness the calls for Gen. Stanley McChrystal to resign from his NATO command in Afghanistan. CNN's anchors are in a tizzy that the brass "mocked" the administration.

When I read the Rolling Stone piece that spawned the McChrystal debate, I kept waiting for a quote so inflammatory that it essentially forced President Obama to call the general away from Afghanistan and back to Washington so that he can (a) be dressed down, (b) be forced to issue a more abject apology, (c) resign or be fired — or (d) all of the above.

House Appropriations Chairman David Obey, D-Wis., called for McChrystal to resign, saying, "If he actually said half of what is being reported, he shouldn't be in the position he is in."

Actually, McChrystal did not say half of what was reported. An unnamed aide called National Security Adviser James Jones a "clown." A top adviser jokingly called Vice President Joe Biden "Bite Me." An unnamed aide likened Special Envoy Richard Holbrooke to "a wounded animal." Unnamed sources told freelance writer Michael Hastings that McChrystal described Obama as "uncomfortable and intimidated" at their first meeting.

McChrystal did joke about Biden — "Who's that?" — although the joke was not about Biden so much as McChrystal's unhappy experience after he criticized the veep's support for a "counterterrorism-plus" strategy. That earned McChrystal a private meeting — also known as a trip to the woodshed — with Obama in Air Force One last year.

In short, this brouhaha is not on the level of Gen.

Douglas MacArthur threatening China with war and otherwise deliberately working to undermine the orders of President Truman. This dispute was not born in a calculated attempt to challenge civilian authority over military command.

Instead, it was a full-color gaffe born in the cocky badinage of men behaving like boys and trying to out-quip one another in the front of "the boss."

Of course, excessive verbal preening is not a smart idea in front of a freelance reporter. The story served only to confirm reports of in-house fighting between McChrystal and Holbrooke, and with U.S. Ambassador Karl Eikenberry.

In failing to check his subordinates' derisive talk, McChrystal allowed for a situation that now demands very public apologies. Worse, it could alter the course of Operation Enduring Freedom, as the general put it, "knee-deep in the decisive year."

White House spokesman Robert Gibbs told the press corps that the president "was angry," as the story distracts from a "vital mission." Fair enough.

McChrystal and his inner circle behaved in a manner that was stupid, arrogant and immature. In their thoughtlessness, they let down troops who have made tremendous sacrifices.

A year into the Obama surge and a year before the reputed July 2011 withdrawal deadline, there are some 94,000 U.S. personnel serving in Afghanistan. Their interests must come first. They deserve the best military commander available.

Really, who cares if one of McChrystal's aides called Jones a "clown"? What happens in Afghanistan is crucial. Sticks and stones are not.

E-mail Debra J. Saunders at dsaunders@sfchronicle.com. To find out more about Debra J. Saunders, and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate Web page at www.creators.com.

COPYRIGHT 2010 CREATORS.COM


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Operation Enduring Quagmire
"You cannot tell the enemy when you're leaving, when you're in warfare, and expect your strategy to prevail."
John Sidney McCain III
Barack Hussein Obama is NOT Abraham Lincoln and he is certainly NOT John F. Kennedy, so this writer will stand-in for Lloyd Millard Bentsen here, to tell Obama that he is NOT JFK and he has not delivered Camelot as he promised, for the nation continues to run up massive war deficits under a fractional reserve banking system.
The prerequisite for assuming the mantle of JFK, is for anyone who claims that exalted title, to enforce Kennedy's executive order, abolishing the Federal Reserve--which Obama has utterly failed to do.
"McChrystal and his inner circle behaved in a manner that was stupid, arrogant and immature. In their thoughtlessness, they let down troops who have made tremendous sacrifices.
A year into the Obama surge and a year before the reputed July 2011 withdrawal deadline, there are some 94,000 U.S. personnel serving in Afghanistan. Their interests must come first. They deserve the best military commander available."
Debra J. Saunders
We reap what we sow and if Obama has garnered intolerable insubordination, that is precisely what he deserves for the many "full color" gaffes--and outright treason-- he has committed against the American people.
Resident Obama's first major gaffe, was running for high office, when he quite clearly knew that he was NOT qualified to be president under the guidelines of the Constitution. His second major gaffe--which was the smoking gun to confirm his usurpation--was the two million dollars he spent on lawyers, to block access to his birth origins and academic records.
The alleged "birth certificate" Obama did offer up, proved to be a blatant forgery. Gaffe three.
His most recent gaffe, was to inform the American people that they have "no standing" to question his birth origins or qualifications. Such a statement is hardly worthy of gathering any respect from the American people, who question the origins and agenda of this stranger--with the illegal alien aunt-- in the White House.
Resident Obama patronizingly dismissed the American people of small towns in the Midwest, as rubes, who are dependent on guns and religion.
Hillary Clinton saw an "elitist and out of touch" attitude in Obama's arrogant statement.
The one who broke the story, was Huffington Post volunteer and citizen journalist, Mayhill Fowler, who stated she felt the duty to report the statement, despite her support for the Obama team.
If anyone is guilty of not being able to hold his tongue, it is the Great Imposter, Barack Hussein Obama.
As for "stupid, arrogant and immature," Obama qualified for all three designations when he dismissed the citizens of Arizona--and by extension, the 18 states which followed suit--as "misguided" and "irresponsible," for reserving the state's right and prerogative to defend itself from the Mexican onslaught. If anyone deserves dismissal, it is Obama for not only directly thwarting the will of the American people--by colluding with the Mexican occupation army--but by his refusal to defend the states from the many encroachments--in the form of rape, robbery and murder---committed against American citizens by Mexican nationals.
If anyone has demoralized and compromised the "vital mission," it is Barack Hussein Obama, for he has telegraphed America's weakness and lack of resolve to the world.
What "vital mission" was served when the Democratic jackals in Congress, rose to deliver a standing ovation to the cheeky Mexican president, for meddling in sovereign American affairs and publicly castigating America for racism--a nation which elected a black president-- on the world stage? Was this not an act of giving aid and comfort to the enemy, by a criminal--and Marxist--regime on Capitol Hill?
Assistant Secretary of State Michael Posner discussed Chinese complaints about problems with U.S. human rights, which include crime, poverty, homelessness and racial discrimination, by raising the ante to "admit"--without any cue from the Chinese, who did not broach the subject-- an alleged "racism" by the people of Arizona toward an army of Mexican nationals, in active annexation of American territory.
What was the mission accomplished by confessing to the Red Chinese--a people who have committed genocide in Tibet, continue to threaten Taiwan and indeed have murdered 40 million of their own people under the cultural purges of Chairman Mao?
Weak is as weak does. Obama is into playing the blame game, to explain his many glaring deficiencies and pawn them off on others.
This gutless betrayal--and gut-spilling approval-seeking behavior-- of the Obama delegation, toward one of the worst human-rights offenders on the planet, speaks volumes regarding the spineless apology tour, which is the hallmark of the Obama administration.
The American people are continually witness to this alleged "president" bowing and scraping before foreign potentates, as he humiliates America before the world, with his specialty--the kowtow.
"White House spokesman Robert Gibbs told the press corps that the president 'was angry,' as the story distracts from a 'vital mission.' Fair enough."
Debra J. Saunders
This writer would suggest that Obama has it backwards. It is the American people who are angry about the hijack of their country and the social engineering experiment in Marxism by the Obama administration. It is the American people who are angry about seeing their sons and daughters thrown into the meat grinder of Iraq and Afghanistan, with absolutely no objective defined--other than withdrawal--and certainly no strategic big picture of the situation.
It is the American people who are angry that they cannot get a straight answer from our Narcissist in Chief, but have received insults and humiliations in abundance.
The most glaring insult--and crime-- of this administration, has been the legal move against Arizona, by a DOJ head, who was too lazy to read the actual bill, which is in direct conformance with constitutional and federal law. That's right Simple Simon, check it out to “see if it's legal.”
There is no "vital mission" to be claimed in Afghanistan, as Osama bin Laden escaped at Tora Bora. If there is any“vital mission” to be accomplished at this juncture, it is for the nation to use the aimless rolling stone of American foreign policy, to gather the moss of war spoils. The new-found mineral wealth of Afghanistan should be used to compensate the American people for the over 300 billion dollars--plus interest--thrown down the sand trap in Afghanistan. In addition, the families of our war dead should receive 5 million dollars for each son and daughter lost in this theater of the absurd, as compensation for their bereavement. Call it a “service charge.”
The best military commander available cannot cover the deficiencies of the alleged Commander-in-Chief, who insists on telegraphing his departure date for the enemy.
If anyone can plan on a good dressing-down, it must be Obama himself, who may one day find himself on the receiving end of a military coup. That will be the day history slams the door on his inept administration.
Comment: #1
Posted by: Revolutionary Thought Adjuster
Thu Jun 24, 2010 12:23 PM
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