Banter in Paris, fireworks in Washington
Even General McChrystal calls it as 'a bleeding ulcer'. Moreover, the build up for the final assault on Kandahar has been scaled down because of local opposition.
GENERAL STANLEY A. McChrystal, commander of US and NATO forces in Afghanistan and his aides were all grounded in Paris because of volcanic ash all over the skies. Following his open door policy, the General allowed reporters to hang around. it is there that they picked up many off the cough remarks and banters in bars wherein the civilian leadership of the Obama Administration was invariably butt of the joke. As the Rolling Stone hit the news stands, the obama Administration went hopping mad. In the said article that was based on remarks picked up in off the guard chats with the aides only of the General, the National Security Advisor James L. Jones was referred as "a clown". The US ambassador in Kabul was painted in bad light as a guy who had his eye on his place in history as Mr Right. He had opposed the Surge and Quit strategy and had opined that the US should be contented with containing the Islamist terrorism. The military folks said that he was keeping the escape route open so that in case of failure of operations, he could say "I told you so." The Vice President of USA, Bidden was in the kine of the fire as an escapist. President Barack Obama was not spared either. The general's aides said that the President lacked interest in the war in Afghanistan. An account of a meeting of General McChrystal and President Obama in the White House was described as most disappointing. Further, in another meeting that the President had with General McChrystal and some Pentagon generals, the President all the time looked uncomfortable and intimidated. The stories painted the President as a man saddled with a job that he did not know how to do. He seemed to be a man out of place and out of humour. President Obama was furious. He asked the Pentagon to summonGeneral McChrystal to wasgington DC forthwith. Other pro-Obama politicians chimed in. Defence Secretary Robert Gates described the remarks in the article as displaying poor judgement in this case. WILL WAR EFFORT SUFFER After the President who is also the Commander-in-Chief has had a face to face meeting with the erring General, he will have two options open to him. Either the President removes him from the command in Afghanistan or just gives him a dressing down and then everything is back to business as usual. In the first scenario the war effort will receive a tremendous set back as the present General is in the saddle and in full control of the war horse. In the second scenario, the General will be back to post but his image would take a beating. He may not be as effective as he has been heretofore. Thus in both the scenarios the enemy will gain and the NATO should not allow that to happen. Senator Kerry has come out with a solution. He says that everyone should stop twittering in Washington on what was said in Paris and not let the war suffer in Kabul. Just leave the episode behind you. In any case the General has had no confrontation with the civilian bosses. Let banter be banter and taken in good humour. Will it be an immature reaction of President Obama if he sacks the General? Yes, so say mature analysts. After all it was not a confrontation like General Douglas McArthur had with President Truman and the General was fired and flown home from his command of the Korean War. General McChrystal has already apologised to all the bigwigs, who had reasons to feel offended or take an umbrage. He is going to face the music in the White House when he meets the Commander-in-Chief. In his apology general McChrystal has said"the article was a mistake reflecting poor judgement and should never have happened." An impartial observer would term this expression of regret as more than enough and that the matter should be allowed to rest where it is now. No more and no less. Making a mountain of a mole will curb freedom of speech. If the military is gagged, the flow of free thinking and forward planning would receive a setback. As per an analysis, the battle for Marja is bogged down. Even General McChrystal calls it as "a bleeding ulcer". Moreover, the build up for the final assault on Kandahar has been scaled down because of local opposition. Further, the attitude of President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan has been rather erratic. At one time he had threatened that he would join the Taliban. It is well known that his relations with Hollbrooke, Vice president and even the President of the USA are not on the best of terms. The only senior American General the President of Afghanistan is on a friendly term is General McChrystal. In view of this, we must not upset the apple cart.
 | Previous Post |
Login
 Login through Social ID
|
Not finding what you are looking for? Search here.
