White House to McChrystal: the uniform of the day is now Sackcloth and Ashes (McChrystal to the White House: Nope)

This week, the pressures on the man must have been especially intense. In addition to the task of operationally planning the Afghan War, General McChrystal has had to deal with hastily preparing for a Presidential carpet-dance of epic proportions, all under the largely unsympathetic eyeballs of the world.

Maybe it was a foregone conclusion, given the political climate of the day. Maybe whatever Gen. McChrystal said, he would have been forced to resign. In this girl’s fantasy the General walked in to the oval office, declined the proffered cup of coffee (or was it hemlock?), looked his Commander in Chief right in the eye and said, “Mr. President, I respect your office although not-so-much you. Here is my resignation.” Probably didn’t really go down that way, but I can dream.

 Gotta love the irony: while Obama was still passing out leaflets on Chicago streetcorners and sucking in the words and philosophies of Marxists like Saul Alinsky and Bill Ayers, a much better man than he was fast-roping out of helicopters and crawling through the muck of foreign lands, fighting America’s secret wars in cold and hot climes. Now this special operator – this battle hardened warfighter who had been forced daily to send people to do (and has assuredly done himself) things in the furtherance of US National Security that we, the protected, do not know about – and, lets face it, probably do not want to know about - this shadow warrior is now forced to squint against the glare of the bright lights held by an unsympathetic mainstream media.

All because he and his staff spoke (some of) their truth and shared (some of) their frustrations with Obama’s White House and the fickle non-orders of his socialistic Commander-in-Chief -- a man seven years his junior. It just adds another tasty bit of irony that it all came out in a magazine more famous for its depictions of rocker rehab issues than, say, hard-hitting analysis of the National Military Strategy of the United States. Almost like the General did it on purpose, huh?

I think he did. I think General McChrystal knew exactly what he was doing, and that he put what was right and honorable before what was self-serving. And God Bless him for that.

Think about it. This administration had done the ultimate bait-and-switch on him. Obama, throughout the entire time he was running for President, kept essentially saying, “Get the US out of Iraq , up the focus in Afghanistan – that’s where the real war is – that’s where we will find Al Qaeda.” [Which was not quite true. Afghanistan is a rats nest of Al-Qaeda, of course, but there is still plenty of Al-Qaeda in Iraq, as anyone who has ever been there would tell you – that is another blog entry though.]

But Gen. McChrystal was given his orders and this man of action therefore went to work (and with vigor) to seek out, close with and destroy the Taliban and Al-Qaeda forces in Afghanistan . Unfortunately, in order to do this important mission, it came at the expense of American and Coalition resources, and so much more importantly, American and Coalition lives.

Mamas and Daddies and brothers and sisters, sons and daughters. Gone. Or Maimed. Or wounded inside from witnessing the horrors attendant to any war.

I have to think that it scarred the General’s soul every time he saw a coffin, but he knew he had no choice – and he slept (when he slept -- there is always something to do, to read, or to decide in war and that limits shut-eye time) knowing that these men and women died for an important mission; chopping those radical Islamist weeds off, right at the root.

But then Obama (and Obama’s people) tell him that they were just fooling – that the real mission is not really to destroy Al-Qaeda and the Taliban. No, the real mission is to (essentially) fight a stalemate war, a holding war, a political war. Another Vietnam.

So, okay, certainly not what the General wanted to hear, but he saluted and marched on -- it does look like he tried to follow the new orders. He and his staff created and implemented operational combat plans that flew helicopters into maelstroms and sent out convoys into IED-infested hell. And every now and then his people (to a commander, all forces under your command are your people) didn’t come back, or didn’t come back with all of their arms and legs. 

His people died, or were maimed…for what? To satisfy the political whims of an Administration that wanted to tell Katie Couric that they were doing something to keep us safe? But at the same time wanting to tell Mother Jones that they were not warmongers? And all the time Americans and our allies were (and are) dying.

I really think McChrystal had finally had enough. I think he decided that honor demanded that he do the closest thing to hari kari one can do in a PR conscious society in the service of a PR conscious Obama administration. I think that the General wanted to send a message that this particular Commander-in-Chief does not know what he's doing. I think that the General was saying that Obama (and his half-wit VP, Biden) do not deserve the respect that a warrior would normally give his Commander-in-Chief.

And he had to do it the way he did, I think. If the General had resigned before this article, there would have been speculation and such, but an Obama-loving mainstream media would have no-doubt found a way to ignore or marginalize the General's comments. Well, they sure as hell cannot now!

By doing it this way, the General has captured the attention of the entire country-- the entire world. Everyone is talking about this: the comments that were made in the Rolling Stone article; the resignation of a 4-star General with lots of Army career left; and the Obama Administration’s approach to fighting the war in Afghanistan (the heretofore all-but-forgotten war).

It looks to this girl like Gen. McChrystal sacrificed his career to send this message. And God Bless him for doing it. Now, it is up to us to listen to him.

I hope that some good can come out of the General’s sacrifice. If we are over there to fight, let’s fight to win; if we are not there to win, then bring our national treasures (our men and women) home.