Afghanistan

The McChrystal Psychobomb

I don't think anything good will come out of this General McChrystal thing. Here's a recap of some of the items in the Rolling Stone article:

McChrystal was quoted as saying he felt betrayed by the man the White House chose to be his diplomatic partner, Ambassador Karl Eikenberry.

The article also claims McChrystal has seized control of the war "by never taking his eye off the real enemy: The wimps in the White House."

One aide called White House National Security Adviser Jim Jones, a retired four star general, a "clown" who was "stuck in 1985."

In Rolling Stone, McChrystal is described by an aide as "disappointed" in his first Oval Office meeting with an unprepared President Barack Obama.

It quotes a member of McChrystal's team making jokes about Biden, who was seen as critical of the general's efforts to escalate the conflict and who had favored a more limited counter-terrorism approach.

"Biden?" the aide was quoted as saying. "Did you say: Bite me?"

Well, we pretty much know what the wingnut right will be saying in perpetuity. Suffice to say, they'll very much enjoy all of this.

If General McChrystal is fired, then "the wimps in the White House" hate the troops. I would be shocked if Senator McCain wasn't being booked for the Sunday shows this weekend to accuse the president of not listening to the commanders on the ground. And once again, an aggressive policy in Afghanistan by this administration will be painted as weak and doomed to fail, which will make the planned withdrawal next July politically treacherous.

If McChrystal wanted to deliberately screw this administration's Afghanistan policy, I think he's succeeded.

UPDATE: I don't usually post wingnut comments from other blogs, but the following comment under a Byron York post caught my attention.

Obama is universally hated by all branches of the military. I just got back from Iraq recently and I can testify to the fact that there has never been a time in our history where the troops hate the CIC to the degree that we hate Obama. But that's OK. We understood that he hated us first.

When I read it, I wasn't surprised at all. But then I began thinking: Why, specifically? Why is he so hated? And is there any indication the president "hates" the military?