Rollingstone: The Generals' Revolt

The Generals' Revolt
As Obama rethinks America's failed strategy in Afghanistan, he faces two insurgencies: the Taliban and the Pentagon
ROBERT DREYFUSSPosted Oct 28, 2009 1:51 PM

In early October, as President Obama huddled with top administration officials in the White House situation room to rethink America's failing strategy in Afghanistan, the Pentagon and top military brass were trying to make the president an offer he couldn't refuse. They wanted the president to escalate the war — go all in by committing 40,000 more troops and another trillion dollars to a Vietnam-like quagmire — or face a full-scale mutiny by his generals.

Obama knew that if he rebuffed the military's pressure, several senior officers — including Gen. David Petraeus, the ambitious head of U.S. Central Command, who is rumored to be eyeing a presidential bid of his own in 2012 — could break ranks and join forces with hawks in the Republican Party. GOP leaders and conservative media outlets wasted no time in warning Obama that if he refused to back the troop escalation being demanded by Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the commander overseeing the eight-year-old war, he'd be putting U.S. soldiers' lives at risk and inviting Al Qaeda to launch new assaults on the homeland. The president, it seems, is battling two insurgencies: one in Afghanistan and one cooked up by his own generals.

"I don't understand why the military is putting so much pressure on the White House now over Afghanistan," says a former U.S. ambassador to Pakistan. "Unless it has something to do with the presidential ambitions of a certain Centcom commander."

The military's campaign to force Obama's hand started in earnest in September, when the Commander's Initial Assessment of the war — a highly classified report prepared by McChrystal — was leaked to The Washington Post. According to insiders, the leak was coordinated by someone close to Petraeus, McChrystal's boss and ally. Speculation has centered on Gen. Jack Keane, a retired Army vice chief of staff and Petraeus confidant, who helped convince George W. Bush to get behind the "surge" in Iraq. In the report, McChrystal paints a dire picture of the American effort in Afghanistan, concluding that a massive increase in troop levels is the only way to prevent a humiliating failure.

more at link: http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/30493567/the_generals_revolt

He's gonna have to get past Sarah first.

...need to be relieved of their duties, since they seem to have forgotten that they work for the people of the U.S. under their Commander in Chief.

fire them. he's commander in chief. fuck these bastards, they're doing all they can to fuck with him.

I hope someone is following their money.

PULL THEIR STARS AND WINGS

... I'd tell the good mr Mac Crystal that I'm willing to deal.

You want 40,000+ troops and you "promise" a good outcome. What? You don't promise? Well isn't that special.

Because if I were Obama I'd tell the good general that I was willing to make a deal. The deal is simple. The military in this country over and over and over again makes demands of what it wants but then it delivers JACK SHIT.

I don't believe Afghanistan will be a success no matter how many men we send but if YOU DO general, then sign this pact that you have 18 months to get me stability and the ability to leave with things in good order - in 18 months.

Can't promise that? Then FUCK YOU.

:grr:

the generals who wouldn't go along with the BFEE war hard on? Now look who Obama has to work with? The * administration cleaned out most of the CIA and put loyalists stooges in and got rid of generals like Shenseki, and don't forget the admiral. Who does Obama have on his side-he hasn't cleaned house-he's working with the same loyalists. If I was him I'd watch his back--or is Cheney still running things?

It makes sense why Darth stayed in the DC area. Why he so soon broke the golden rules of a former vice president speaking out against a sitting president on foreign affairs. Using the fear factor. Then of course being tagged teamed with his belligerent daughter.

I've no doubt the neo-con shadow gov't has strategically placed their people within the Pentagon, CIA, NSA, etc. Some if only as 'sleeper' tattle-talers; where anything the Obama administration discusses is reported back to the 'shadows'. This is what I believe they did to President Carter during the hostage crisis. How so very easy it is to sabotage this way.

Though we'll never know for certain, I do wonder if it weren't a shadow gov't that killed JFK. That said, I have great fear for our president. How easy it would be to blame a fearful tea-bagger/white supremacist if 'they' decided to harm our president.

Or ...

How this gov't in the shadows creates another Reichstag/911 with a horrific LIHOP/MIHOP to turn up the American RW rhetoric. Fox is not only primed for that, but they've indoctrinated their viewers to expect a disaster under Obama. In all the confusion, it wouldn't be far fetch to see the trust and confidence for Obama or the Democrats to be lost amongst a deceived America.

Besides Afghanistan, Odierno wants to use the recent violence in Iraq to not stick to the withdrawal time-line. This oil-rich Gulf Region is a wet dream for the war machine, for those who'd like another power coup, and for those to get rich with another Cold War situation. They'd love to prove Obama wrong on his use of diplomacy, and go after Iran; and maybe after time, antagonize/provoke Russia.

I'd like to see some FISA warrants on the Cheneys, Fred Kagan, & all suspected NeoCons for conspiring against our national safety and interests.

All of this makes me sick (literally) to my stomach.

scandal was being addressed on Meet the Press. very interesting.