Bloodthirsty Liberal

I almost used this title last week, but I didn’t know then then what I know now:

According to sources close to the administration, Gen McChrystal shocked and angered presidential advisers with the bluntness of a speech given in London last week.

The next day he was summoned to an awkward 25-minute face-to-face meeting on board Air Force One on the tarmac in Copenhagen, where the president had arrived to tout Chicago’s unsuccessful Olympic bid. …

An adviser to the administration said: “People aren’t sure whether McChrystal is being naïve or an upstart. To my mind he doesn’t seem ready for this Washington hard-ball and is just speaking his mind too plainly.”

Because, you know, the military has all the time in the world to speak obliquely. And “naïve” is just the word to describe the commanding officer in the Afghan theater.

These people are unbelievable.

The generals have to speak plainly because the Obama administration isn’t paying attention (via Jules Crittenden):

But we need to be realistic in recognising that the campaign will require a sustained, substantial commitment. Many tough tasks loom before us — including resolution of the way ahead after the recent election, which obviously has been marred by allegations of fraud. The challenges in Afghanistan clearly are significant. But the stakes are high. And, while the situation unquestionably is, as General McChrystal has observed, serious, the mission is, as he has affirmed, still doable. In truth, it is, I think, accurate to observe that, as in Iraq in 2007, everything in Afghanistan is hard, and it is hard all the time.

That was General David Petraeus, two and a half weeks ago, well before President Obama’s infatuation with the Olympic flame.

Regular readers will know that I’m not convinced Afghanistan is worth a damn, let alone the life of a single American. But I do expect the President, after nine months in office (during which time he completely rehabilitated America’s standing in the world—or so he boasted to the UN), to come up with a strategy—an opinion, even.

Which he seems in no hurry to do.

While this goes on:

An Afghan policeman on patrol with U.S. soldiers opened fire on the Americans, killing two of them before fleeing, officials said Saturday, raising questions about discipline in the ranks of the Afghan forces and possible infiltration by insurgents.

Hark, is that the echo of Vietnam (nam-nam-nam) I hear?

PS: Spoke too soon. President Obama may not have an opinion himself, but he’s looking for one he likes:

Two officials say President Obama is hosting a bipartisan, bicameral meeting with congressional leaders on the war in Afghanistan Tuesday afternoon, marking his first major bipartisan conclave on the issue in some time. Committee chairs and ranking members of the Armed Services and Foreign Relations Committees will be on hand, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, House Minority Leader John Boehner, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, Democratic Sens. John Kerry and Carl Levin and Republican Sens. Richard Lugar and John McCain, among others.

Pelosi, Reid, Kerry, and Levin? What, Julius and Ethel Rosenberg weren’t available?