P.S.: Note that McChrystal was given everthing he wanted by the Adminstration. The tenor of the article sound like he's annoyed that he has to answer to civilians at all.
I think McChrystal is saying that the Obama administration did not give him what he believe he needs to win the war. As I understand it, he was frustrated that Obama took 3 months to make a decision to send additional troops. He has also expressed his belief that scheduling troop withdrawals is inconsistent with trying to win a war.
It seems doubtable that a career military man would want to be fired and leave his troops hanging in the middle of a war. I just think he is frustrated with his Commander in Chief and decided to become somewhat of a whistle blower. And that is never acceptable for a General.
His frustration seems understandable. He is essentially fighting an un-winnable war, with inadequate assets, and has tepid support of his President & congress. I would hate to be in his shoes.
By the way, the fact that this story was posted in the "Politics" section of HEF speaks to how political this war is viewed. Would a story about WWII, printed during the war, be viewed as political or current events/news?
Well the story isn't about a military action or anything like that. Its about the fallout from McChrystal giving an interview to Rolling Stone, of all things.
That's why this has the feel of premeditation to it to me. McChrystal has a willing audience in the Washington Post. Why use Rolling Stone other than to kick up a ruckus?
That or he's angling for a run for President in 2012. Or both.
McChrystal's counter-insurgency strategy might not work even if he had a decade and 10 times the number of troops he has now.
Even
his own play book states that civilian causualties are bad because for every 1 civilian you kill by accident you create 10 vengeance filled terrorists.
Even with our armies knowing this our civilian casuaties rate is pretty horrific (I had cited it elsewhere a while ago). And that's only one of McChrystal's problems.
P.S.: It just occured to me that if McChrystal DOES get canned for whatever reason his sucessor is going to want/need more time to assess the situation on the ground. There will be no pullout while Gen. Second Choice is gathering his data. That alone could buy the troops an extra year in Afganistan.
So maybe McChrystal figures he's bulletproof: the Adminstration can't have its scheduled pullout without him, so he can say what he wants.
