Tag Archives: general mcchrystal

A Rolling Stone

158 Replies

General McChrystal was fired Wednesday by President Obama for saying disrespectful things about the civilian authority in a very liberal magazine called Rolling Stone. The General was apologetic, but he had committed the unpardonable sin; he thought he knew how to fight a war better than some political appointee, so he had to go.

 

 

I am a rolling stone

Saying things out loud for which I must atone

So now I’m all alone

Yes I’m a rolling stone

I talked a bit too much

Saying things like he’s a dope and such and such

Got me in a lot of dutch

Yes I’m a rolling stone

Now I’m out of a job

Talking to a magazine it sure played hob

Now with the jobless mob

Yes I’m a rolling stone

See all the stars I wore

Count ‘em how you will they still count up to four

I made Obama sore

Yes I’m a rolling stone

 

 

COIN Of The Realm

General McChrystal, President Obama’s hand picked successor to command the forces in Afghanistan, has submitted a recommendation to the president for more troops, troops that are needed to implement the successful counter-insurgency (COIN) program that worked so well in Iraq, and which General McChrystal wants to implement in Afghanistan. The administration is reluctant to send more troops, even though General McChrystal’s charge from the president when he assumed command was to win the good war in Afghanistan. It seems the administration had no clue as to what the price of victory would be, and so the president dithers, unable to make up his mind while American soldiers die. The president should either do it right and send in sufficient force to do the job and win, or get out. If he gets out he gives victory to Al Qaeda and the Taliban. If he continues on his present course he will give eventual victory to Al Qaeda and the Taliban because we do not have enough forces in Afghanistan to do the job. Giving General McChrystal the troops he needs will bring victory, but at a price the president is apparently unwilling to pay, though he seems perfectly willing to pay the very much higher price of defeat. Which way will he decide to go? Well, we must remember that President Obama has already famously said that victory is not an option.   

 

 

Counterinsurgency’s COIN of the realm

It worked very well in Iraq

But now that we have a new guy at the helm

It seems definitions are slack

When they jawboned the problem way back in the Spring

They thought they could buy on the cheap

A bounce in the polls that a victory would bring

They’d no clue that the price would be steep

So they texted the generals, no need for a chat

And told them to write up a plan

To beat up al Qaeda and then after that

To take out the weak Taliban

So now they’re all sitting ‘round watching the clock

Obama more clueless than most

Complaining they’re stunned by the big sticker shock

According to Washington Post

On top of it all now the Pakis now say

They want all the drones that we have

And buckets more money before they will play

They’ve hurt feelings you see we must salve

The Obamistration is flailing the air

To leave or to stay in those lands

They haven’t a clue as to why they are there

The country’s in very best hands

 

 

Victory Or Debt

The New York Times reports on the struggle between the White House and the General commanding in Afghanistan, Stanley McChrystal, over Afghan war policy. Some months ago President Obama fired General David McKiernan and appointed General McChrystal to win the war candidate Obama said was the good war, the war we should have been fighting instead of the bad war, Iraq. But now the president is having second thoughts about the goodness of the Afghan war, and looks to be getting ready to pull the plug. General McChrystal, in the meantime, has submitted a plan for winning the war, and has said he will resign if the president decides he does not want victory in Afghanistan. And since the president has saddled the taxpayers with massive trillions of dollars of debt into the long foreseeable future, it looks like the president has called for victory or debt, and has chosen debt, with or without honor.

 

 

General McChrystal will turn in his pistol

If Barack Obama won’t show

His Afghan intention and may we just mention

His attitude toward Qaeda foe

He said on the stump into Afghan he’d jump

And throw old bin Laden in chains

But now he’s as dubious as Varro and Publius

When told Hannibal’d made no gains

He’s thinking it over is Barack the rover

Who thinks he’s an eagle on high

But deep in the clover lies Barack the plover

Not sure which decision to buy

The problem with Afghan for Barack is he can

Not see where the politics lies

He’s afraid of his Left and so now he’s bereft

Of all but soft whimpers and sighs