Airborne Division

Account limit of 2197 requests per hour exceeded.

McChrystal The Victim

Finally it happened. It happened may be for the first time in the history of United States of America when an Army General so aggressively accused the Democratic Government on not taking decisions in the best interest of America. The episode of removing Gen. Stanley McChrystal from Command has opened a new Pandora Box that cannot be closed so easily.

 

On 23rd June 2010, USA and the whole world saw that once a bold, determined and ambitious President of the lone Super Power displayed a face of a concerned, angry, despaired, frustrated person in his few minutes' speech. His speech provided an opportunity to many to sense that Mr. Barrack Hussain Obama is loosing the grip of the power hot seat due to his sweaty hands.

 

The matter is not to be ignored when we can see the episode of McChrystal's interview to a magazine and events that unfolded afterwards show the sign of an ugly conspiracy behind the whole scene.. The outburst by a competent and premier General was a result of events that dragged the situation to the extent of complete polarization of the US Army with the Civilian Government.

 

Events that reached the threshold were due to the following developments.

 

It is widely believed that President Obama was facing tough criticism from his team while handling the Afghan war. In the absence of clear and concise policy due to the shaking feet of the President made many things complex.

 

General McKiernan (Retired United States Army four-star general who served in Afghanistan as Commander, International Security Assistance Force -ISAF from June 3, 2008 to June 15, 2009) and Gen. David Petraeus (The United States Army General and the 10th and current Commander of the United States Central Command) are they key personalities when the War on Afghanistan is discussed. It started when Gen. McKiernan was relieved from his duties in Afghanistan and was replaced by Gen. Stanley McChrystal. Gen. McKiernan has special relations with the media like CNN, Fox and Newspapers like Washington Post. He had been supported quite keenly by all the high ups in the State Department and in the Congress.  When he was relieved from Command in Afghanistan, The Washington Post called it "a rare decision to remove a wartime commander and described the replacement as one of several replacements of Generals who represented the "traditional Army" with Generals "who have pressed for the use of counter-insurgency tactics. McKiernan retired with full honors on July 15, 2009 Secretary Gates praised him for his leadership at every military level and presented him with the Defense Distinguished Service Medal for his service. He also received the Army Distinguished Service Medal from his retirement ceremony host, Army Chief of Staff, General George W. Casey, Jr.

 

General McKiernan's replacement created a great stir inside the US Army and Gen. David Petraeus understood to have been quite unhappy with the replacement. However, it was the pressure of Secretary Gates who found Gen. McChrystal as more energetic and more competent as compared to General McKiernan to handle the complex war zone of Afghanistan.

 

Unfortunately, those media giants who had soft corner for Gen. McKiernan could not digest this replacement. A systematic campaign was launched later by some important media giants including CNN when their embedded journalist Michael Yon started sending reports suggesting that McChrystal was incompetent and not suitable to handle the assignment.

 

Michael Yon in one of his interviews praised President Obama and Secretary of Defense Robert Gates for their strategy in Afghanistan. At that time General McKiernan was in-charge of the war zone.

http://article.nationalreview.com/380998/afghanistan-today/interview

Excerpts regarding Michael Yon's advice to President Obama when Gen. McKiernan was not relieved from his duties.

YON: Firstly, listen very closely to his military advisers, including Generals McKiernan and Petraeus. They don't put lipstick on the pig, as it were. I see General McKiernan as a realistic commander and a truth-teller. Secretary Gates will tell you that we need more trainers to train the Afghan army and police, and our commanders on the ground will say the same. We need more money for infrastructure and development. We need roads, roads, roads and more roads. We need to more vigorously address the poppy economy and find alternative livelihoods for the Afghan people. We need to work to not alienate the Afghan people because if we lose the wide approval that we still have, we likely will lose the war.

 

The complementary statement of the Journalist for Gen. McKiernan proves that the support was there for the General to keep his strategy in place.

 

This controversial embedded Journalist Michael Yon of CNN played an important role in the professional demise of Gen. McChrystal.

 

Some important revelations can be witnessed here:

 

http://www.politico.com/blogs/laurarozen/0410/Military_blogger_Yon_threatens_to_sue_McChrystal.html

 

Military reporter and blogger Michael Yon is threatening to sue Afghanistan commander Gen. Stanley McChrystal for libel, he writes on his Facebook page:

I have in my possession compelling evidence of General McChrystal's smear campaign. It's been sent to my attorney. The sad part is that McChrystal is incompetent even with a smear campaign. Official statements by his people -- in writing -- have been defamatory and libelous. A writer must be able to spot libel just as ...a soldier must be able to spot IEDs. It's part of the job. If you can't spot it, you will get hurt. Further evidence of McChrystal's incompetence is the ease with which he jerks a writer from the field and gets a laser on himself/staff for lying. And then his own staff commits defamation and libel. They fight like children. They are giving me their ammo. It's saddening. We cannot win such a complex war with people like that in charge. This is not a winning team.

"Writers who are afraid to take on the powerful are useless here," he continued further down in the comments. Haven't had time to figure out the backstory here. Yon's site is here.

More from Small Wars Journal.

UPDATE: US Air Force Lt. Col. Edward T. Sholtis, with the public affairs office of the ISAF command in Afghanistan writes to respond, below the jump:

"Yon started his embed in Kandahar on 3 February with invitational orders lasting 87 days, much longer than a typical embed," a U.S. military official who asked not to be named said. "As his agreed-upon time in Afghanistan began to wind down, he let it be known that he intended to remain embedded through August of this year. Given a finite ability to host embedded reporters, this decision amounted to a choice to deny some of his colleagues an opportunity that he had enjoyed from more than two months, and which he can always request to repeat. The ripple effects of that choice in one way or another would have impacted 26 journalists currently scheduled to embed later this month (who are still waiting to be matched with available slots), 76 who have been wait-listed because of a lack of slots, and hundreds more who are hoping to embed in Kandahar later this summer. The responsible PAOs therefore decided to disembed Yon against his wishes, which coincides with the period when the verbal attacks against General McChrystal started."

"Prior to that, Yon's reporting of coalition operations had been critical, but not in a way that raised any serious concerns here in Kabul," he continued.

 

After reading the above facts, it is quite easy to understand that McChrystal was facing a dual faced war which was slipping from the hands of a competent General. He not only had to face the real enemy on the ground but back home the support for him was grim due to President Obama's weak decision making power. Unfortunately, President exercised his decision making power swiftly against McChrystal but the impact could be enormous and would run down the spine of USA's Military setup.

 

When we look towards the current replacement of Gen. McChrystal, Gen. David Petraeus is not a clean choice. Some news reports have speculated that Petraeus may have interest in running for the presidency, especially after he visited a school known for hosting the presidential debates, Saint Anselm College. Despite these accounts, Petraeus has categorically asserted that he has no political ambitions. But possibility is still there. Another question arises is the state of the health of Gen. Petreaus which is quite suspicious as he came of out of the treatment of prostate cancer in October 2009. Most recently he fainted during the hearing in front of Senator McCain in the US Senate raising the question about his capability to handle pressure situation. The selection of Gen. Petreaus seems to be the result of some sort of urgency after the relieving of Gen. McChrystal but in my personal opinion, the ground was already made and McChrystal fell in the trap already set for him since months

 

Beyond doubt Gen. Petreaus is not the ideal choice as he himself was feeling lot of pressure due to compound failures in Afghanistan due to lack of vision proven by the Obama Administration. His physical and mental strength is not up to the mark right now as discussed before. Obama Administration tried to cover up the gap of McChrystal in a mad hurry and came up with another stupidity which will send the impact to the whole Military set up inside Afghanistan. Gen. Petreaus's focus was to run for presidency in the next Elections that is why it is hard that he may be able to give his 100 percent to the war.

 

When the unfortunate events developed against McChrystal, Lieutenant General David Rodriguez was expected to be the potential replacement. However the mistake of hurriedness brought Gen.Petreaus on the hot seat to see the Afghan War in the toughest times. Lieutenant General David Rodriguez relinquished command of the 82nd Airborne Division on July 21, 2008.  His tour as division commander in eastern Afghanistan had won wide praise as one of the most successful counter-insurgency efforts since violence began to rise there in 2006, and United States Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates selected him to be Gates' senior military assistant, for which role Rodriguez was promoted to lieutenant general on July 29, 2008. Internal sources revealed that after McChrystal's replacement was decided, Robert Gates insisted on making Lt. Gen. Rodriguez the in-charge of the ISAF operations inside Afghanistan but this time also Obama came up with his own decision to bring Gen. Petreaus in front. By early May 2009 Rodriguez and Lieutenant General Stanley A. McChrystal were considered the leading candidates to succeed General David D. McKiernan as senior military commander in Afghanistan. Rodriguez was appointed McChrystal's deputy, a newly created three-star position designed to handle day-to-day military operations, freeing the four-star commander to concentrate on theater-level issues. According to Gates, "General McChrystal and General Rodriguez bring a unique skill set in counterinsurgency to these issues.

 

There is also a great possibility that Lt. General David Rodriguez was not given the charge in Afghanistan because of his close association and loyalties to Gen. McChrystal plus his strategy is as same as of the relieved General. In short the McChrystal's formulae to achieve eventual success in Afghanistan would not applicable anymore.  The shift in present strategy in Afghanistan would only add to the success of Taliban who can claim that top US Generals are unable to tackle this complex war zone. Now the selection of Petreaus a relatively less aggressive Commander can further deteriorate the situation that would lead to the position where the promise of President Obama to the American nation that US forces would begin their exit in 2011 from Afghanistan seems quite impossible now.

 

In conclusion of the above, I can say that McChrystal fell into the trap systematically created against him with the help of a journalist by those forces inside US Army and the Government who conspired against a competent General who had all the capability to bring success to US operations inside Afghanistan. Afghan President Hamid Karzai and the Pakistani Government along with Army Chief General Ashfaq Pervez Kiyani were completely satisfied and contended with the command line and coordination with Gen. McChrystal. It is sad for everybody that a Brave General had to bear the insult just because he chose to become vocal against those who are running the show with a novice approach back at White House. The role of embedded Journalist should also be questioned who tried to divert the attention of a serving General who was completely focused on the war strategy. The American nation would be seeing more mishaps and more mistakes from Obama Administration because their inability to handle the situation in Afghanistan that is turning out of control by every passing second.

 

About the Author

Creator of Blog "Pakistan Hope" http://pakistan_hope.bravejournal.com

82nd Airborne Division C-17 Airborne Ops - Part II: Paratrooper Drop