Quote Originally Posted by boaz
gypski, I am not trying to argue or anything with you about this :jointsmile: but I guess I just see it different. I hold the President responsible for war casulties beginning the moment he takes the oath. From that moment on no one but he is responsible for all aspects of it, tactical, strategic, logistically, etc... all of it. as long as we are engaged in combat, he owns it. Maybe its because I've never been in the military but that is just how I see it.

But, I do agree that Shrub was no military genious either. This is exactly the reason I voted for John McCain. I thought he would make a good Commander in Chief with his experience. :twocents:
I'm not arguing either, but if you have never served (don't take that as a rebuke if you haven't), you do what your immediate command general demands without question. Not the White House, look at what Nixon did in Vietnam, Peach with honor my ass. I served during that time. The guy sitting in the Oval office has only been a military man twice. George Washington and Dwight D. Eisenhower and we know what their comments were. Eisenhower warned us that we would see this day, and we cannot blame it on Obama after 23 years of Republican administrations and only 17 years of Democrat administrations since 1960. Neither is blameless, but who has had more time to undermine and attempt to dismantle the government in the favor if industrialist or multi-nationals as they have morphed into in recent memory? Who brought the greatest deficits in favor of corporations rather then the people? But I digress...........

Back to McChrystal. The orders come from the guy running the show, and are expected to be executed by the guy running the show in the war zone. Apparently, McChrystal was going out on his own and not following orders from headquarters.

I agree troops are needlessly dying. That is a command issue and the execution of the mission. And the killing of civilians by trigger happy troops (because of poor leadership at the command level on the ground) needs to cease to gain the true trust of the Afghan people. If I lived in Afghanistan right now, I'd be fucked up on "O" too, or kicking some religious nut cases ass under the influence of "O" or hashish. And I'd be damned sure to take a few with me if I was to die. And the opium epidemic got worse after we took over in 2005 under Bush. How about an accusation that the Bush Cabal is a narco-gang also since the increase happened on his watch? Tangent.
gypski Reviewed by gypski on . The Runaway General - Rolling Stone The Runaway General Stanley McChrystal, Obama's top commander in Afghanistan, has seized control of the war by never taking his eye off the real enemy: The wimps in the White House By Michael Hastings Jun 22, 2010 10:00 AM EDT "How'd I get screwed into going to this dinner?" demands Gen. Stanley McChrystal. It's a Thursday night in mid-April, and the commander of all U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan is sitting in a four-star suite at the Hôtel Westminster in Paris. He's in Rating: 5