IN - General Petraeus
The General Stanley McChrystal affair is a real mind-blower. What a bind! There’s no question that what he had to say screamed volumes of truth about the state of affairs with the military and the Obama administration. The problem is a general does not pop off about the commander in chief like that even if it is someone as loathsome and unsuited as Barack Obama. Of course, anyone who has ever held a job knows the fate of one who is openly critical of the Big Cheese.
The ultimate concern is to what extent Obama and his ultra-left wing anti-military stance will drive the best of the best from the military and compromise our national defense as a result. Considering how off guard the United States found itself on September 11, 2001 and the efforts conducted over the next seven years to correct the situation, and now the country is enduring a systematic unraveling of security measures minimizing the war on terror having faced three terrible episodes, the Fort Knox killings, the botched airliner bombing over Detroit at Christmas and the abortive car bombing at Time Square, radical Islam is emboldened and on the attack.
On closer examination, it was not General McChrystal’s words that were as damaging as his aide’s, but one has to wonder what on earth a high powered general would be doing granting in-depth interviews to an entertainment rag like Rolling Stone magazine which consistently presents a leftist anti-military stance? That he would allow himself availability to an organization like that in this writer’s mind is the damnable offense; however, a little practical wisdom would show he shot himself in the foot badmouthing Obama in what is surely the biggest clash between a prominent general since General Douglas McArthur came to blows with Harry Truman over the conduct of the Korean War.
From a public relations standpoint how lucky can Barack Obama be to find David Petraeus to take charge of the Afghanistan operation. Surely, General Petraeus must swallow some pride considering the way Obama as a Senator lambasted and ridiculed the General over his conduct of the war in Iraq.
Every American must realize that our challenge in Afghanistan is an extremely difficult one in a region that is primitive, corrupt, and disoriented. Their government is corrupt and lacks popular support. A large part of their economy rests on the heroin trade growing opium poppies. The infusion of the evil Taliban in Afghani society presents tremendous danger. Winning the population over while conducting a successful military operation to destroy the Taliban and Al Qaeda and attempting to get the entire society to radically change its way of life is a Herculean task requiring great leadership.
General Petraeus is such a man but without the support from the chain of command and a totally incompetent, ideologically driven Commander in Chief makes this one of the greatest military challenges in World History.
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