http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/24/us/politics/24mcchrystal.html

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/gen-stanley-mcchrystal-relieved-command-obama-meeting-rolling/story?id=10992188

The problem I see is that this crash of cultures is unavoidable in a political war (and what war is not ultimately political). Soldiers think their job is to win wars the old fashioned way, by blowing things up and raising the flag. Politicians want to play politics and be seen in front of smiling Afghan faces. Presumably faces not sitting on quadruplegics, too. Meanwhile, your guy’s balls are in the wringer over there and you start to get upset with pols in DC playing chess with your cannon fodder. Even WW II had its political infighting. We had to stroke Monty’s dick to get his cooperation in France. Patton was furious that he was leashed and told not to take Berlin ahead of the Russians. War, of course, is politics by other means.

As you say, cut to the chase and start building schools and bribing politicians. Would probably work just as well. Either way, the military-industrial complex gets its money, right?

These little cults of personality that spring up everywhere these days lead to delusional thinking (The Boss says it, so it must be true). After an overdose of groupthink one forgets that there are others out there with differing worldviews. The upshot can be behavior that’s the norm in the hive but stunningly insane outside of it.

Thus you have Christian Bale berating some poor sap who wandered into his shot, Mel Gibson railing against the Jews, Lance Armstrong chasing down Filippo Simeoni, Ronnie Reagan joking about the bombing starting in five minutes, Daffy and Fudd calling an NYT journo a major-league asshole, and now McChrystal’s noisy little fart in church.

Guys like this don’t live in the same world we do. They’re as alien as E.T., but not nearly as cute.

If you’re trying to win political points, then come up with a cool name for a minor project of building a handful of schools and bridges. Track their progress closely, and when they’re done, pull out. Ship ‘em school supplies, iPads and WiFi, declare victory, and bug out. Continue to pay as many people under the table as you can. Graft ain’t pretty, but sending cash is a lot cheaper in the short and long run than the VA bills we’re racking up, which are for life.

I’m no insider, but i’ve been around GOs when political pressure was making folks do things they didn’t want to do. I watched around 30 full birds get handed their retirement papers from that dip shit Rumsfeld for disagreeing with him. And I spent some time with the Corps of Engineers during Katrina when they were getting beat up by all manners of congresscritters, folks who were more occupied with saving their own face and pointing fingers than actually fixing anything.

And down to the last man, every one of them knew to keep his mouth shut about his civilian bosses, especially when reporters were in the room. What, did he think the Rolling Stone was going to cut him some slack and keep this to themselves?

But Obama needs to be careful. If one soldier dies because of friction created during the transition of command as a replacement for McC is getting vetted, that’s going to be seen as an ego tax casualty. Everyone understands that civilians pay the bills, but the troops expect that check to come in the mail, not delivered in person by someone hovering over them. Guys who don’t give a fiddler’s fart about McC will still be pissed if he’s fired over politics and not performance.

I haven’t decided on Gen. Stan. I stopped writing this long enough to read the Rolling Stones article. I am not convinced this counterinsurgency stuff works unless you go in like Atilla the Hun crossed with the Romans at Carthage. Where has it worked? Its weird to be quoting Nixon: If you grab ‘em by the balls, their hearts and minds will follow. Otherwise, they wait till you turn your back and then stick an IED up your ass.

Mind you, I think we have sunk our military into yet another stupid, endless, and senseless quagmire (what is the Afghan translation of “Vietnamization?) but that goes with the territory of fighting political wars out of the White House basement. I guess McChrystal should be reaming out his superiors in private, not in the Rolling Stone.

I don’t know. Chain of Command notwithstanding, I sure wouldn’t want to be leading Americans into that battlefield and have to look them in the eye every day as more shit hits the fan and troops are on their Nth deployment. This war has all the promise of an ugly hooker with AIDS. Anyone got a good idea? Or just a thicker condom and two brown bags.