Channel-surfing from ABC, CBS, NBC, and CNN through MSNBC and Fox News, the inside-the-beltway pundits had a field day trying to get inside the heads of Barack Obama, Joe Biden, General Stanley McChrystal, and McChrystal\u2019s top aides.\u00a0 The one thing common to all of the analyses, by the most famous and highly-paid talking heads in the Western World, was that they are all wrong\u2026 dead wrong.\u00a0 What is certain is that they all owe General McChrystal and his senior aides an apology for assuming that they are lame-brained numbskulls.<\/p>\n
\u00a0The facts of the McChrystal case are not in dispute.\u00a0 General McChrystal and his senior officers allowed a reporter for Rolling Stone Magazine<\/em>, Michael Hastings, to have almost unprecedented access during an extended stay in Paris.\u00a0 The extended stay was due, in part, to an excess of atmospheric ash from Iceland\u2019s Eyjafjallajokull volcano, keeping the McChrystal party grounded for days.\u00a0 Hastings subsequently published a lengthy profile of General McChrystal on June 22, titled, The Runaway General.<\/em><\/p>\n In an interview with CNN, Hastings reported that he had a tape recorder in his hand most of the time and that McChrystal was \u201cvery aware\u201d that his comments would find their way into print.\u00a0 He said, \u201cMcChrystal and his people set no ground rules for their conversations, although they did ask that some parts of their conversations were off the record.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n As Hastings wrote in his profile<\/a>, McChrystal thought that Obama looked \u201cuncomfortable and intimidated\u201d by the roomful of military brass during their first meeting. \u00a0Of their second meeting, an advisor to McChrystal quoted the general as saying that it was \u201ca 10-minute photo op.\u201d \u00a0He went on to say, \u201cObama clearly didn\u2019t know anything about (McChrystal), who he was. \u00a0Here\u2019s the guy who\u2019s going to run his f_ _ _ing war, but he didn\u2019t seem very engaged. \u00a0The Boss was pretty disappointed.\u201d<\/p>\n As General McChrystal flew from Afghanistan to Washington to face Obama in the Oval Office, the almost unanimous opinion of the talking heads was that the comments made by McChrystal and his staff were off the cuff and inadvertent.\u00a0 But to believe that is to totally ignore who these men are.\u00a0<\/p>\n General McChrystal and his top officers are not simple-minded, knuckle-dragging brutes.\u00a0 To the contrary, they are intelligent, thoughtful, highly educated, patriots\u2026 graduates of West Point and other fine universities\u2026 who are dedicated to duty, honor, and country.\u00a0 To think that such men would be so careless as to speak unflatteringly of Obama, Biden, and other top administration figures, in the presence of a reporter for a notoriously left wing publication, defies logic\u2026 at the very least.\u00a0 To think that men who are trained to be careful and deliberate in everything they do, could do something so careless and so unguarded is simply beyond comprehension.\u00a0<\/p>\n I would argue that McChrystal and his aides knew exactly what they were doing.\u00a0<\/p>\n From the day that he became the handpicked \u201cspear carrier\u201d for Obama\u2019s unique brand of warfare\u2026 playing at<\/em> being Commander in Chief while playing to<\/em> his far left constituency\u2026 McChrystal\u2019s life had been one of constant frustration.\u00a0 After telling Obama exactly how many troops he needed to carry out his mission, Obama dithered for months before deciding to give him just half the troops he requested.\u00a0 McChrystal could not have been happy about that.<\/p>\n The Obama team insisted on new Rules of Engagement designed to reduce collateral damage (civilian casualties). \u00a0Obama\u2019s ROE required that U.S. troops must be able to see the enemy with weapon in hand before they were allowed to return fire.\u00a0 One videotape circulated on the Internet showed a platoon of Marines pinned down by enemy sniper fire.\u00a0 But since the enemy was firing from some distance behind the open window of a building, the Marines could not actually see the weapon being fired.\u00a0 Although they were taking deadly fire, they were prohibited by the ROE from putting small arms fire or an RPG through the window opening.\u00a0<\/p>\n Under Obama\u2019s politically correct ROE, our soldiers and Marines were required to fight with one hand tied behind their backs. \u00a0McChrystal had to have been happy about that.<\/p>\n A strict new interrogation policy, dictated by Attorney General Eric Holder, required that prisoners must be delivered to an Interrogation Center within twenty-four hours of being captured or be released to return to the battlefield.\u00a0 A great deal of actionable intelligence was lost as a result and battle-hardened enemy fighters were returned to the field to kill Americans.\u00a0 McChrystal must have found that to be incomprehensible.<\/p>\n But the greatest insult to our troops in the field, and to the officers who lead them, may be a new battlefield medal designed by the Obama team.\u00a0 It is called the Courageous Restraint Medal and is awarded to soldiers and Marines who demonstrate uncommon restrain in combat by not<\/em> firing their weapons even when they feel threatened by the enemy.\u00a0 Should we be surprised to learn that the preponderance these medals were awarded posthumously? \u00a0McChrystal must have found that to be an insanity.\u00a0<\/p>\n I suggest that, having his best military judgments subjected to the White House political sieve for nearly a year and a half, McChrystal decided that he\u2019d had enough.\u00a0 And when he announced to his senior staff that he was prepared to retire they decided to push back\u2026 to make the most of a bad situation.\u00a0 It was clear that, if McChrystal were to simply take off his uniform and walk away, his retirement would be page-twenty news for a day or two before the mainstream media and the American people forgot all about him.\u00a0<\/p>\n They had to make the most of his retirement because it provided a one-time opportunity to show the American people, as well as our enemies and our allies, that the man who claims the title of Commander in Chief of the U.S. military does not command the respect of our men and women in uniform.\u00a0 To make the most of that opportunity they had to choose their messenger very carefully.\u00a0<\/p>\n They knew that, by openly showing their disrespect for Obama in front of just any newsman, they may not attract the attention they desired.\u00a0 Like any astute observer of the MSM, they knew that most reporters would turn on their own mothers if it meant a good story.\u00a0 But they could not take a chance that a mainstream media reporter might suffer a rare pang of conscience when confronted with the prospect of ruining the careers of some of the most senior officers in the War on Terror.\u00a0 They had to fix the odds as much as possible in their favor so they chose to use Michael Hastings and Rolling Stone Magazine<\/em>.<\/p>\n During the long hours that General McChrystal was in the air between Kabul and Washington, Obama knew that he had just two choices\u2026 both bad.\u00a0 He could declare McChrystal to be an irreplaceable asset in the war effort, give him a public reprimand, and send him back to Kabul.\u00a0 Or he could fire McChrystal, sending a clear message that, at least in his own mind, he was the Commander in Chief.<\/p>\n In the former case, he was certain to appear weak and ineffectual\u2026 a man not totally in charge.\u00a0 In the latter case, he might at least win a few rave reviews from the Kook-Ade drinkers in the mainstream media.\u00a0 He chose the latter of the two options.\u00a0<\/p>\n But what is now lost in all of the hand-wringing and speculation is the fact that McChrystal and his people have succeeded in doing exactly what they set out to do.\u00a0 They wanted to plant the seed in the minds of the American people that Obama is not up to the task of being Commander in Chief and that he does not command the respect of the men and women of the uniformed services\u2026 from the newest Private E-1 up to the top four-star generals and admirals.<\/p>\n That seed is now firmly planted and it cannot be unplanted.\u00a0<\/p>\n From this day forward, no one will have to tell the American people that Stanley McChrystal is a true warrior, a man\u2019s man, and that Barack Obama is nothing more than a\u2026 community organizer.\u00a0 Well done, General!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Channel-surfing from ABC, CBS, NBC, and CNN through MSNBC and Fox News, the inside-the-beltway pundits had a field day trying to get inside the heads of Barack Obama, Joe Biden, General Stanley McChrystal, and McChrystal\u2019s top aides.\u00a0 The one thing … Continue reading