Jesus Christ. WTF was he thinking? Did he think he was “off the record” when he said that shit to a REPORTER FROM ROLLING FUCKING STONE???
How embarrassing for everyone involved. Interesting to see how the administration responds to this. Do they try to look macho and fire him? Do they courts martial him for insubordination? Do they ignore it? I’m sure if some Lt under Gen M’s command made these statements about him to RS he would be relieved, guaranteed.
I’m not saying he’s wrong for feeling that way about the people he deuced on but you’d think after 30 yrs in the Army he’d be more self aware to avoid this kind of shit.
It’s called ‘rank insubordination’, which also cost MacArthur his job. He deserves to be sacked for being disloyal and unprofessional, regardless of whether or not he was correct. Freedom of speech is not an option for high-ranking military personnel, and these sorts of comments are detrimental to good order and discipline.
Yep. One does not lightly make fun of the Commander In Chief, if one is a general. Dugout Doug, another brilliant but arrogant general, found that out the hard way.
Maybe he just wanted to get the President’s attention so they could talk about the war. Maybe, now that he’s summoned to Washington, he can talk about the war with the President.
Or, maybe not. Maybe they’ll just talk about the bad press this kind of thing gives the White House. You know: the important stuff.
Right, because the only way a four-star general can talk to the President about the war is to drop a hint in Rolling Stone, now that they got rid of the White House Semaphore Corps.
Yeah, but it was after messy public reading of one of his more defiant letters on the floor of the HoR, which was taken at the time to be a shot across the bow of the president, and that’s something you don’t do.
They already talk at least weekly via satellite hook up. This week’s meeting will be in person though. Military officers are forbidden from criticizing their superiors in public.
No, the important stuff is what it does the integrity of the chain of command. That stuff actually matters in the field.
You may remember that several Generals were critical of GWB, but none of them said so until after they retired. This kind of breech is something that is simply not done in the military (publicizing it, that is. Private grumbling about leadership goes back to Og and Grog bitching about Chief Mog’s strategy to win back the waterhole from the frogface tribe). That’s not a political thing, it’s a hardcore. military thing.
I’m pretty offended the McChrystal, who doesn’t seem to be denying that he said what the story claims he said, nevertheless fired one of his press aides over it. Perhaps his aides are supposed to carry around sock bundles to stuff in his mouth when he gets too “truthy”.
McCrystal is the guy in charge of covering up Pat Tillman’s fragging. He’s a loathsome SOB and may be punished, but he will never get what is coming to him.