General McChrystal’s Suspicious Exit
It all happened within a few days and it is to our knowledge one of the weirdest episodes in U.S. military history. The U.S. Commander in Afghanistan, Four-Star General Stanley McChrystal gets exposed by a liberal (way leftist) publication article in ‘Rolling Stone’ magazine a few days before it is even available on newsstands and before it comes out, the General is gone! Let’s briefly recall what supposedly happened here.
With the General’s permission, his staff allowed liberal reporter Michael Hastings of Rolling Stone magazine, a publication that is against the war and very liberal in its content, to follow him around in Afghanistan for a couple of weeks to see what it is like to be in charge of the war going on in that country. During this time, the reporter picked up some quotes spoken “off the record” where unpleasant and uncomplimentary references are being made by the General and his staff about high-level Obama administration officials (including the President). Since these comments were well published two weeks ago when the story broke, we will not repeat them here but conclude with the aftermath of it. It would be easy to google the article and read it in its full context. The magazine article is being brought to the President’s attention, the President calls the General to Washington and after a brief 30-minute meeting in the White House, the President accepts the General’s resignation for his inappropriate comments to the magazine reporter. The announcement is made and Four-Star General David Petraeus is called upon to take over the role of Commander of all U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan. General McChrystal disappears from the stage and turns in his resignation from the Army in which he served for more than three decades. End of story.
We here at Common Sense University believe that there is much more to this episode based on the fact that it all went so well and quick. We believe that the General wanted to get out, period!!! It was all that simple. The job was taken its toll on the man, the multitude of tasks simply wore him down and he considered his options and probably found that there were really not many. Sure, he constantly had to spend lots of time with high-ranking administration officials visiting Afghanistan including the Ambassador to that country. The President of Afghanistan Hamid Karzai was also constantly running interference with the day-to-day operations of the General and so McChrystal simply had enough and wanted to get out. But how could he do that without losing face with everybody who had counted on him and the troops who followed and believed in him?
Could he claim a non-existent illness as the reason? NO! Could he just write to the President and say: I can’t handle it any longer, I am in over my head? NO! Could he openly complain to the President about the interferences by all the visitors, President Karzai or the limiting rules of engagement? NO! That did not leave him many options and in order to get out and not lose face, he decided to do something “inappropriate and unbecoming” that would force him to acknowledge his error in judgment and accept the consequences by resigning his commission. And so it went. He allowed a war-hating reporter to follow him around who then would publish a not so complimentary article entitled ’The Runaway General’ in Rolling Stone magazine.
We refuse to believe that the General was unintentionally allowing this reporter to get near him, pick up off the cuff remarks by him and his staff about other Obama administration officials. We do not believe that the General was that naïve knowing full well that an article would be written about him in that liberal (War-hating) publication and to expose himself and his staff to that. NO, General Stanley McChrystal wanted to get out and determined that this was the least damaging way to himself of doing so without admitting his discust for the job. It will remain to be seen (or heard) if the true story about this episode will ever be honestly written, either by the General in a memoir or by those who were his closest confidants. Until then, we are not willing to accept the story as has been written and given to us.
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