RUTHFULLY YOURS

Jun 22 Written by: Diana West
Tuesday, June 22, 2010 3:59 AM 

Politico reports that Gen. Stanley McChrystal has been “summoned” to Washington from Kabul over “biting and unflattering remarks” he and his staff made to Rolling Stone magazine about members of the Obama administration, including Obama himself. The general is now winging homeward for a meeting with the president tomorrow. “The face-to-face comes as pundits are already calling for McChrystal to resign for insubordination.”

“Insubordination” in this case sounds like a bunch of cracks ranging from indiscreet to sophomorically unseemly. Examples:

McChrystal described his first meeting with Obama as disappointing and said that Obama was unprepared for the meeting.

National Security Advisor Jim Jones is described by a McChrystal aide as a “clown” stuck in 1985.

Others aides joked about Biden’s last name as sounding like “Bite me” since Biden opposed the surge.
McChrystal issued an immediate apology for the profile, advance copies of which were sent to news organizations last night.

There are many, many reasons to fire Gen. McChrystal, as I first began noting back in September 2009, and they all begin with the criminally irresponsible rules of engagement (ROEs) that are predicated on a politically correct, see-no-Islam, hothouse-academic, socially-engineering vision of the world as it isn’t that has cost all too many of our men’s lives, limbs, and well- being, not to mention countless billions of dollars, and lost power and prestige that once safeguarded us against our enemies.

Firing McChrystal without also “firing” the disastrous counterinsurgency (COIN) strategy as codified by the equally culpable Gen. Petraeus does nothing to help the country out of this unrelieved nightmare of pointlessly wasteful, harmful-to-our-interests, seemingly endless war. In other words, it just doesn’t matter if McChrystal’s fired for “insubordination,” or not. So long as COIN rules, someone just as bad will step in to fill his place. Meanwhile, the “pundits” (plural) cited in Politico’s report come down to Joe Scarborough, and that’s it.

Scarborough said:

“Gates and Petraeus have to come out and fire McChrystal. They should have already done it – Petreaus and Gates should have already fired McChrystal.”

For sounding off, not for sending men into battle with their hands tied behind their backs.

The costly cluelessness continues.