Douglas MacArthur couldn't have been a more widely recognized, honored and respected American military leader after WWII, but Harry Truman didn't hesitate to can him when he didn't seem to understand that the line of command in the USA starts with the president and adds several more layers of civilians before it gets to the military.
This is the way the Founders wanted it, to avoid military coups etc. But ever since the military became voluntary and rightwing Republicans (and need I add fundamentalist Christians) became the major influence in the military, which now lacked the broad citizen participation that the draft had guaranteed, the military has been critical of anything other than rightwing Republican (and need I add fundamentalist Christian) policies.
Thus the undermining of Carter, Clinton and now Obama. Mainly because the military has more power than any civilian agency, more money, more people, bigger staffs and press corps etc. not to mention all the fire power. Or almost all.
The question I would put to anyone supporting General McCrystal in his blatant political prejudices as expressed in that Rolling Stone article he knew was being written and therefore obviously wanted his opinions out there, is if you guys are so much better than your civilian bosses who were elected democratically, how come the war you've been fighting is now the longest war in our history and you're still not winning?!
As for the Reagan appointed Republican judge who just overturned Obama's six-month moratorium on drilling for oil on only a portion of oil rigs in the gulf, "activist judges" anyone?
All this just further proof of what I've been arguing on this blog and elsewhere since Obama got elected: he is up against an array of powerful rightwing forces in and out of the government that have become deeply entrenched at least since Reagan (though it began under Nixon) as the result of a deliberate strategy to control any and all political power in the U.S. Which means the destruction, by any means, of not just Democratic politicians even when elected by a majority of voters, but the destruction of all they stand for, including less power to the military and more to elected officials.
They are obviously out to destroy Obama's presidency (as they were for Carter and Clinton, by any means) and so they can gain control again and not have to answer to anyone other than their own rightwing coterie.
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Yes. And it's frigging terrifying.
the echo of what Hillary said more than a decade ago resonates loudly - the right wing conspiracy -
i mean, how much more evidence is needed ...
and it annoys the hell out of me when they keep referring to this war in Afghanistan as the longest ...
first of all it began as a war against the shadowy figure of terrorism and Al Queda, which was a moving target ...
then came the war in Iraq, where we left nothing more than a military police presence while resources were focused somewhere else -
then it became Obama's problem and everyone seemed hell-bent on having him make quick decisions about re-strategizing and upgrading the military activity - [job security if you ask me] - now, because its going as well as it was under the Bush administration from advisors with the same agendas; its Obama's ineptness - go figure ...
by definition, a war is something you wage against an enemy - and without clear and decisive objectives or targets by which you can measure success, it becomes military occupation at a cost that inflates our deficit, employs the unemployable, strengthens right wing dissent, robs billions from programs that could advance health, education and culture, and fosters nothing more than an atmosphere of chaos and turmoil ...
and if the quality of leadership in the military is anything like McCrystal, they deserve the punishment of treason - first of all for not doing their job, secondly for not focusing on the objectives and providing factual analysis, and thirdly for insubordination and denigrating the commander and chief ...
by the way - the longest war is the american civil war which continues on all fronts ...
well
I am yet here in D.C.
seems to be a needia (media) block on what is happening today with McCrystal.
so
THIS p o p p e d up:
http://washingtonart.com/beltway/soup.html
what America needs RIGHT NOW is more geniuses...damn few of us left!
I think you have a point when you argue that McCrystal deliberately let his criticism of his civilian bosses be published. No way a guy at his level would be so naive as to let a journalist catch him say things he wouldn't want to be out there. He's a military man for heaven's sake. Keeping secrets and spreading mis-information is part of a military's day-job. He was testing the waters. If he had got away with it the balance in the system would have shifted even further in a potentially dangerous, for democracy, direction. And judging by what else was in the article, more heads must roll.
Furthermore I think the theory of winning muslim hearts by infiltrating military types into society is totally flawed. Good riddance McChystal. Maybe Obama will tweak his policy on that war a bit after this?
I think there's no question he'll "tweak" it Torre. I'm just happy to see he took action and his statement about it was perfect. Obama rose to the occasion. McCrystal stooped to it from the beginning, after all, he was the guy in charge of the cover up of the Tilliman death bu friendly fire, allowing him to be elevated to a national hero dying fighting the enemy when he was shot by our own forces!
Michael, I think when you say enemy it should be "enemy", in quotation marks.
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