Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
By some accounts, McChrystal's career should have been over at least two times by now. As Pentagon spokesman during the invasion of Iraq, the general seemed more like a White House mouthpiece than an up-and-coming commander with a reputation for speaking his mind. When Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld made his infamous "stuff happens" remark during the looting of Baghdad, McChrystal backed him up. A few days later, he echoed the president's Mission Accomplished gaffe by insisting that major combat operations in Iraq were over. But it was during his next stint – overseeing the military's most elite units, including the Rangers, Navy Seals and Delta Force – that McChrystal took part in a cover-up that would have destroyed the career of a lesser man.
Two years later, in 2006, McChrystal was tainted by a scandal involving detainee abuse and torture at Camp Nama in Iraq. According to a report by Human Rights Watch, prisoners at the camp were subjected to a now-familiar litany of abuse: stress positions, being dragged naked through the mud. McChrystal was not disciplined in the scandal, even though an interrogator at the camp reported seeing him inspect the prison multiple times. But the experience was so unsettling to McChrystal that he tried to prevent detainee operations from being placed under his command in Afghanistan, viewing them as a "political swamp," according to a U.S. official. In May 2009, as McChrystal prepared for his confirmation hearings, his staff prepared him for hard questions about Camp Nama and the Tillman cover-up. But the scandals barely made a ripple in Congress, and McChrystal was soon on his way back to Kabul to run the war in Afghanistan.
So shall we give credit to the Crawford Lynch mob that tried to destroy (not necessarily in chronological order).
Gen. Edward Shinseki
Richard Clarke
Gen. Anthony Zinni
Former Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill
CIA agent Valerie Plame
Ambassador Joe Wilson
just to name a small sampling.
Indeed. They surrounded themselves entirely with cronies. And there were far lesser names that no one heard of who were not only forced to retire but were demoted for speaking out. I remember hearing about a General being demoted and forced to retire because he questioned the interrogation/torture procedures at GITMO. It was all done quietly and without fanfare, just one more victim of the neoconservative purges.
McChrystal was involved in both the torture program at Bagram and the cover up involving Tillman's death. I think he will be treated far better and far more fairly than anyone who dared speak up against the neocons.
That he erred? Like Lincoln erred with McDowell, McClellan, Burnside, and Hooker.
Worse than that. He knowingly kept a crew of ambitious generals with troubling histories; he should have requested the resignations of most of our current Long War mafia generals.
Lincoln erred in not knowing the character of his choices. Obama has no such defense.
Oh and for the record, I think Obama should fire the guy. I like McCrystal but he crossed the line.
That is what you do. you fire the guy. Like Bush did with that list blandfruit listed.... with the exception of Joe Wilson. He really should have been drug thru the mud and destroyed. he wasn't.
Here it comes. the Political assassination of Bill McCrystal... Ive been waiting on this one all day long.
Dude has crossed the wrong politican. the Chicago machine is now in full effect.
Chicago machine? McCrystal messed up big time he deserved to be fired, Bush would have done the same. A front line general telling all to a writer from the Rolling Stone over a few beers shows rather a lack of intelligence.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
