McChrystal Fails Intelligence Test

McChrystal Fails Intelligence Test

by Mark Luedtke

They say that truth is the first casualty of war. In a recent Rolling Stone interview, General Stanley McChrystal committed the cardinal sin of telling some truth - he has no respect for President Obama's civilian war planners and diplomats. McChrystal and his staff openly ridiculed Vice President Biden, Special Representative Holbrooke, National Security Advisor Jones and Ambassador Eikenberry. Disagreeing in private is one thing, but publicly ridiculing civilian leadership is another. In America, policy decisions are made by civilians, not the military, but by publicly ridiculing the civilian leadership, McChrystal injected himself into policy.

McChrystal has a pattern of this. Last summer, soon after President Obama put him in command of the Afghan-Pakistan war, McChrystal leaked an urgent request for 40,000 more troops, claiming if he didn't get them, we would lose the war. This was a blatant attempt to force Obama's hand that mostly worked. After three months, Obama promised 30,000 more troops for an Afghanistan surge, but the three month delay highlighted the friction between the president and the general.

Last fall McChrystal ridiculed Biden in a speech in Great Britain while Obama was on his way to the Olympic Committee. Obama summoned McChrysal to Air Force One to remind him of his duty. Apparently McChrystal didn't learn the lesson.

And given his history, why would we expect him to? According to Rolling Stone, West Point operated more like Animal House than the paragon of discipline Americans are led to believe while McChrystal attended. ""Prison on the Hudson," as it was known then, was a potent mix of testosterone, hooliganism and reactionary patriotism. Cadets repeatedly trashed the mess hall in food fights, and birthdays were celebrated with a tradition called "rat f******," which often left the birthday boy outside in the snow or mud, covered in shaving cream. "It was pretty out of control," says Lt. Gen. David Barno, a classmate who went on to serve as the top commander in Afghanistan from 2003 to 2005. McChrystal was reportedly the brilliant leader of the delinquents known more for their alcohol tolerance than military strategy. Bluto would be proud. Punishment didn't change his behavior then, and being dressed down by the president last fall didn't change it either.

Disdain for authority in a job that won't tolerate it isn't McChrystal's only character flaw. In 2004 McChrystal was involved in the cover-up of the cause of death of ex-NFL linebacker turned Ranger Pat Tillman. Tillman was killed by friendly fire in a firefight in Afghanistan, but McChrystal helped cover it up for over a year. He wrote a note recommending that President Bush never say how Tillman was killed because it could cause "public embarrassment" for the president. In 2006, the prison camp McChrystal was in charge of in Iraq was implicated in a prisoner abuse scandal, but McChrystal walked away scot-free.

That McChrystal rose to command all forces in Afghanistan instead of being court-martialed shows how corrupting our wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are. McChrystal moved up the ranks in spite of his actions because he killed lots of bad guys. As head of Joint Special Operations Command in Iraq, his team hunted down, killed and captured the most dangerous insurgents in Iraq including Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.

A bigger truth exposed in the Rolling Stone article is we're not winning the war in Afghanistan. This surge in Afghanistan is modeled after General Petraeus's surge in Iraq, but Afghanistan isn't Iraq. The Iraqi people have a national identity that doesn't exist in Afghanistan. Iraqis in general are better educated, and many served in Hussein's military. Iraqis are used to a central government. Afghans are not. Insurgents in Iraq were foreign fighters. The Taliban are local. Afghanistan is more rugged.

Not only that, but President Karzai is an ultra-corrupt warlord. His brother is a major warlord and opium trader in Taliban controlled Kandahar. Karzai won re-election through election fraud. He's threatened to join the Taliban. Karzai is no supporter of women's rights. For all intents and purposes, US policy makers are using US troops to fight a gang war on behalf of Karzai. On top of that, according to the Washington Post, "The U.S. military is funding a massive protection racket in Afghanistan, indirectly paying tens of millions of dollars to warlords, corrupt public officials and the Taliban to ensure safe passage of its supply convoys throughout the country, according to congressional investigators." As a result, US troops are unable to secure Marjah. The campaign to take Kandahar has been delayed. American central planners cannot centrally plan the US. How can they centrally plan Afghanistan?

The war has become so unpopular that the US propaganda machine recently felt compelled to report that Afghanistan has $900 billion in mineral wealth that just happens to be in Taliban controlled territory. Gosh, we have to keep fighting now, right? This isn't new information - it's why the Russians invaded - but it's a stark reminder US troops aren't in Afghanistan to fight al Qaeda. There are fewer than 100 al Qaeda fighters in Afghanistan. Our government wants the loot.

Even worse, Rolling Stone makes it clear that McChrystal doesn't have control of his command. His strategy is not clear to the commanders and troops implementing it. The rules of engagement force US troops to sacrifice their lives for the sake of Afghan lives. This has sparked a near mutiny. One platoon's orders read, "Patrol only in areas that you are reasonably certain that you will not have to defend yourselves with lethal force." McChrystal seems to have fallen victim to the Peter Principle - rising to his level of incompetence.

But the biggest truth exposed by Rolling Stone is this war is unwinnable. Obama had to fire McChrystal to hide that truth.