The GENERAL and the "Community Organizer!"

by Paul R. Hollrah
June 24, 2010

Channel-surfing from ABC, CBS, NBC, and CNN through MSNBC and Fox
News, the inside-the-beltway pundits had a field day trying to get
inside the heads of Barack Obama, Joe Biden, General Stanley
McChrystal, and McChrystal's top aides. The one thing common to all
of the analyses, by the most famous and highly-paid talking heads in
the Western World, was that they are all wrong… dead wrong. What is
certain is that they all owe General McChrystal and his senior aides
an apology for assuming that they are lame-brained numbskulls.

The facts of the McChrystal case are not in dispute. General
McChrystal and his senior officers allowed a reporter for Rolling
Stone Magazine, Michael Hastings, to have almost unprecedented access
during an extended stay in Paris. The extended stay was due, in
part, to an excess of atmospheric ash from Iceland's Eyjafjallajokull
volcano, keeping the McChrystal party grounded for days.

In an interview with CNN, Hastings reported that he had a tape
recorder in his hand most of the time and that McChrystal was "very
aware" that his comments would find their way into print. He said,
"McChrystal and his people set no ground rules for their
conversations, although they did ask that some parts of their
conversations were off the record." Hastings subsequently published
a lengthy profile of General McChrystal on June 22, titled, The
Runaway General.

As Hastings wrote in his profile, McChrystal thought that Obama
looked "uncomfortable and intimidated" by the roomful of military
brass during their first meeting. Of their second meeting, an
advisor to McChrystal quoted the general as saying that it was "a
10-minute photo op." He went on to say, "Obama clearly didn't know
anything about (McChrystal), who he was. Here's the guy who's going
to run his f_ _ _ing war, but he didn't seem very engaged. The Boss
was pretty disappointed."

As General McChrystal flew from Afghanistan to Washington to face
Obama in the Oval Office, the almost unanimous opinion of the talking
heads was that the comments made by McChrystal and his staff were off
the cuff and inadvertent. But to believe that is to totally ignore
who these men are.

General McChrystal and his top officers are not simple-minded,
knuckle-dragging brutes. To the contrary, they are intelligent,
thoughtful, highly educated, patriots… graduates of West Point and
other fine universities… who are dedicated to duty, honor, and
country. To think that such men would be so careless as to speak
unflatteringly of Obama, Biden, and other top administration figures,
in the presence of a reporter for a notoriously left wing
publication, defies logic… at the very least. To think that men who
are trained to be careful and deliberate in everything they do, could
do something so careless and so unguarded is simply beyond
comprehension.

I would argue that McChrystal and his aides knew exactly what they
were doing.

From the day that he became the handpicked "spear carrier" for
Obama's unique brand of warfare… playing at being Commander in Chief
while playing to his far left constituency… McChrystal's life had
been one of constant frustration. After telling Obama exactly how
many troops he needed to carry out his mission, Obama dithered for
months before deciding to give him just half the troops he requested.
McChrystal could not have been happy about that.

The Obama team insisted on new Rules of Engagement designed to reduce
collateral damage (civilian casualties). Obama's ROE required that
U.S. troops must be able to see the enemy with weapon in hand before
they were allowed to return fire. One videotape circulated on the
Internet showed a platoon of Marines pinned down by enemy sniper
fire. But since the enemy was firing from some distance behind the
open window of a building, the Marines could not actually see the
weapon being fired. Although they were taking deadly fire, they were
prohibited by the ROE from putting small arms fire or an RPG through
the window opening.

Under Obama's politically correct ROE, our soldiers and Marines were
required to fight with one hand tied behind their backs. McChrystal
could not have been happy about that.

A strict new interrogation policy, dictated by Attorney General Eric
Holder, required that prisoners must be delivered to an Interrogation
Center within twenty-four hours of being captured or be released. A
great deal of actionable intelligence was lost as a result and
battle-hardened enemy fighters were returned to the field to kill
Americans. McChrystal must have found that to be incomprehensible.

But the greatest insult to our troops in the field, and to the
officers who lead them, may be a new battlefield medal designed by
the Obama team. It is called the Courageous Restraint Medal and is
awarded to soldiers and Marines who demonstrate uncommon restrain in
combat by not firing their weapons even when they feel threatened by
the enemy. Would we be surprised to learn that the preponderance of
these medals were awarded posthumously? McChrystal must have found
that to be an insanity.

I suggest that, having his best military judgments subjected to the
White House political sieve for nearly a year and a half, McChrystal
decided that he'd had enough. And when he announced to his senior
staff that he was prepared to retire they decided to push back… to
make the most of a bad situation. It was clear that, if McChrystal
were to simply take off his uniform and walk away, his retirement
would be page-twenty news for a day or two before the mainstream
media and the American people forgot all about him.

They had to make the most of his retirement because it provided a
one-time opportunity to show the American people, as well as our
enemies and our allies, that the man who claims the title of
Commander in Chief of the U.S. military does not command the respect
of our men and women in uniform. To make the most of that
opportunity they had to choose their messenger very carefully.

They knew that, by openly showing their disrespect for Obama in front
of just any newsman, they may not attract the attention they desired.
Like any astute observer of the MSM, they knew that most reporters
would turn on their own mothers if it meant a good story. But they
could not take a chance that a mainstream media reporter might suffer
a rare pang of conscience when confronted with the prospect of
ruining the careers of some of the most senior officers in the War on
Terror. They had to fix the odds as much as possible in their favor
so they chose to use Michael Hastings and Rolling Stone Magazine.

During the long hours that General McChrystal was in the air between
Kabul and Washington, Obama knew that he had just two choices… both
bad. He could declare McChrystal to be an irreplaceable asset in the
war effort, give him a public reprimand, and send him back to Kabul.
Or he could fire McChrystal, sending a clear message that, at least
in his own mind, he was the Commander in Chief.

In the former case, he was certain to appear weak and ineffectual… a
man not totally in charge. In the latter case, he might at least win
a few rave reviews from the Kool-Ade drinkers in the mainstream
media. He chose the latter of the two options.

But what is now lost in all of the hand-wringing and speculation is
the fact that McChrystal and his people have succeeded in doing
exactly what they set out to do. They wanted to plant the seed in
the minds of the American people that Obama is not up to the task of
being Commander in Chief and that he does not command the respect of
the men and women of the uniformed services… from the newest Private
E-1 up to the top four-star generals and admirals.

That seed is now firmly planted and it cannot be unplanted.

From this day forward, no one will have to tell the American people
that Stanley McChrystal is a true warrior, a man's man, and that
Barack Obama is nothing more than a… community organizer. Well done,
General!

Just Can't Seem to Get It RIGHT!!

To President Obama and all 535 voting members of the US Congress:

1. The U.S. Post Service was established in 1775. You have had 234 years to get it right and it is broke.

2. Social Security was established in 1935. You have had 74 years to get it right and it is broke.

3. Fannie Mae was established in 1938. You have had 71 years to get it right and it is broke.

4. The War on Poverty started in 1964. Over $4 Trillion Dollars of our money has been confiscated and transferred to "the poor" ... and they only want more. You have had 46 years to get it right and it is a miserable disaster.

5. Medicare and Medicaid were established in 1965. You have had 44 years to get it right and they are broke.

6. Freddie Mac was established in 1970. You have had 39 years to get it right and it is broke.

7. The Department of Energy was created in 1977 to lessen our dependence on foreign oil. It has ballooned to 16,000 employees with a budget of $24 billion a year and we import more oil than ever before! You had 32 years to get it right and it is an abysmal failure.

8. In 1980, Congress established the Department of Education as a Cabinet level agency. You have had 30 years to get it right and we all know the state of "education" in America's government schools.

You have FAILED in every "government service" you have shoved down our throats while overspending our tax dollars. And now you have taken it upon yourselves to manage our HEALTH CARE!! God help up. He is the only One that can.