General McChrystal on 60 minutes talked to Obama once in 70 days

by Karl Gotthardt - albertacowpoke | September 28, 2009 at 05:08 am

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General Stanley McChrystal has been in Afghanistan for 70 days now. He was the Administration's choice. During an interview on 60 minutes last night, General McChrystal revealed that he had only talked to President Obama, the Commander in Chief, once in 70 days.

Last week a report was leaked that showed General McChrystal's concern that Afghanistan could be a lost cause if he didn't get additional troops. There was much speculation of how this report was leaked, while there hasn't been much discussion of a new strategy for Afghanistan.

General McChrystal is a General that leads from the front. He is thoughtful and has given a lot of his time to understand the situation in Afghanistan. He was in charge of a unit that captured Saddam Hussein. He is a General, who is battle hardened and has the credentials of someone that should be listened to. Yet he has only talked to the Commander in Chief once in 70 days and runs up against Pentagon bureaucracy. His frustration, though well concealed shows during the 60 minute interview.

So do we listen to the National Security Adviser, retired General Jones, Joe Biden or General McChrystal? To me the answer is clear listen to the man who is on the ground and has done the homework.

Things in Afghanistan are "probably a little worse" than Gen. Stanley M. McChrystal expected.

60 Minutes aired its interview Sunday night with Gen. McChrystal, the top U.S. and NATO commander in Afghanistan.

CBS' David Martin started off by describing Gen. McChrystal as "blunt, hard-charging and fed up with the way the U.S. has been fighting the war over the past 8 years."

Martin traveled to Afghanistan to interview Gen. McChrystal.

Asked if things are better or worse than he expected, General McChrystal told Martin, "They are probably a little worse."

"What's worse than you thought?" Martin asked.

"Well, I think that in some areas that the breadth of violence, the geographic spread of violence, places to the north and to the west, are a little more than I would have gathered," McChrystal replied.

Here is an interesting article from the LA Times (a liberal leading newspaper). Interstingly it alleges that the White House has been sitting on McChrystal's report for a month.

[http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-boot28-2009sep28,0,3635480.story]

The White House has been sitting on the general's report for a month, refusing to allow him to submit his resource request or testify to Congress and leaking to the news media that the president may decide to downsize the entire war effort.

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lalith

at 09:33 on September 28th, 2009

I think Afghanistan is a lost cause. Obama does not seem to have a hold of the military angle of things happening there.

What about the troops? How many are going to die, for what cause?

Karl Gotthardt - albertacowpoke

at 09:44 on September 28th, 2009

Good debate Roy and rng. Thank you for your comments on this. lalith thans very much for your comments.

Rory Cripps

at 14:47 on September 28th, 2009

ACP: Thanks for the story and comments it elicited. Military personnel often get the it end of the stick. But the fact that President Obama has only spoken to his top general in Afghanistan once in 70 days is unbelievable!

Afghanistan is essentially Obama's war. Indeed, throughout his campaign he let the world know that Afghanistan is where the real enemy is--not in Iraq. I can understand now why General McChrystal has to go on national TV--it's the only way that he can gain an audience with his commander in chief! This is a crying shame and it's extremely disheartening. I give General McChrystal much credit for putting up with what essentially amounts to an insult in my opinion. Gen. McChrystal must be one tough and disciplined soldier to put up with this kind of crap! I guess all the grunts know about this now--what a morale booster . . .huh?

Karl Gotthardt - albertacowpoke

at 16:18 on September 28th, 2009

To be quite frank Rory, did the General have a choice. Kudos to 60 minutes for bringing this story. Perhaps there is still hope for the media.

It now explains why Admiral Mullen met General McChrystal in Ramstein. Obviously McChrystal is not a whiner. As I watched 60 minutes last night the man made me proud. He projects what a leader should be. He makes sure the channels of communication are open and gets around and knows what is going on in the field.

As an aside he was involved in the raid that killed Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. There was no requirement for him to be there but he tagged along anyways. The story is in the video.

Bush Administration officials have stated that McChrystal was in touch with Dick Cheney on an almost daily basis when in charge of the counter-insurgency. You can imagine how neglected he must feel, but he still soldiers on.

Barry ORegan

at 05:36 on September 29th, 2009

I guess when the General said, he would tell Obamarama if Afghanistan was a lost cause, the General was making his feelings clear, McChrystal Clear!

Karl Gotthardt - albertacowpoke

at 05:45 on September 29th, 2009

General McChrystal is damn clear. He is a Hillier with special ops and insurgency experience. Calls a spade a spade and doesn.t beat around the bush.

bernieg1 (not verified)

at 17:20 on October 23rd, 2009

By not talking with Gen McChrystal, Obama can later excuse his inaction by saying that he wasn't told how bad the situation in Afghanistan really was.BTW, I used a portion of your article in my post<a href="plancksconstant.org/blog1/2009/10/the_difference_between_afghan_and_american_women.html">The Difference Between Afghan and American Women</a>