It has been eighteen months since Obama was sworn in as the new Commander In Chief and he is now on his third Commanding General in Afghanistan.

Does anyone want to place any bets that within six to eight months there will be a fourth?

Obama replaced General McKiernan in May 2009 with General McChrystal. As Bush’s general, McKiernan had to know that his time was coming and now General Petraeus replaces McChrystal.

Now let me make it clear that I do not think that the any of these three Generals are not capable and experienced enough to do want needed to be done, or in General Petraeus’ case needs to be done, to win this war. Quite the contrary as the Generals are not the problem.

Even in light of The Rolling Stone article, “The Runaway General,” which after reading I found the title to more than a little overly dramatic and terribly misleading. But the title was no more misleading than the contents of the article itself when you find that there is hardly a derogatory quote about Obama or the members of his Administration made by General McChrystal himself. After reading the entire article, the first Rolling Stone article I was ever able to finish, I am still not sure just how General McChrystal was supposed to be this intolerable runaway officer?

The article written by Michael Hastings was not the all out hatchet job one comes to expect from the ultra liberal Rolling Stone, but then this one didn’t have to be, at least not in this present Liberal climate raining down on DC or in regards to the thinnest skinned, prima donna president and administration this country has ever seen.

Frankly if Hastings had pulled an all out hatchet job on the General and his Staff then it would not have been as effective and many would have disregarded it as just another liberal pansy knocking the military. By toning it down this particular liberal pansy got away with it.

In what may be another first, I find that I have to agree with Geraldo Rivera when he states that Hastings should not have included many of the article’s quotes when they were probably off the record and for national security reasons during a war.

Of course this brings up the obvious question of just why a known liberally biased journalist who is writing for a flagrantly liberal magazine was welcomed into the inner circle by General McChrystal and his Staff in the first place? About the only things more unwise than letting Hastings tag along would have been allowing Oliver Stone to hang around researching a new screenplay, letting Adam Pearlman, alias Azzam The American, shoot one of his infamous propaganda shorts, or as reported, McChrystal voting for Obama in the first place. But then even intelligent people do dumb things on occasions.

Besides a well earned lack of respect for the current CIC and his administration, the only other reason that I can come up with for Hastings being anywhere near McChrystal is that General McChrystal and his Staff had drunk too deep from the well of power and indestructibility after having the full run of things since May ’09. Unfortunately that is a trap that many great men fall into.

What we all must remember is that just eighteen months ago this entire bunch of Liberal “peaceniks”, who are now running ‘the show’, were crawling around the country condemning both the Iraq and Afghanistan wars and declaring that they were both un-winnable. American Armed Forces now find themselves in the dangerous position of being at war while being under the command of a group of individuals who consistently look victory straight in the eye and yell “Uncle!”

So the biggest problem with this entire episode is that everything McChrystal and his Staff said is true. “Bite Me” Biden is a joke, Obama is detached and overwhelmed, and from the top down this administration is chaotic, uninformed and misguided, not to mention unanimously and fervently anti-military.

From dumbing down the terminology of our wars, enemies and policies, to instituting the ridiculous ‘Rule Of Engagement’, giving Miranda Rights to terrorist, embracing our enemies while insulting and abandoning our Allies, handing over missile sites to Russia, telling all about our Top Secret interrogation techniques and the number of nuclear weapons we possess, to proposing public, civilian trials of the terrorists and on and on can anyone not say that our nation is now less secure than it was before Obama was sworn in?

We have a CIC that refuses to use the word, “victory” in Afghanistan and an entire Administration that will not even dare to whisper, “Islamic terrorism”!

If anyone reading this can give me even just one example of how our country is safer after an Obama policy change I would really like to know what it is.

If you haven’t noticed how inexperienced, unorganized and detached Obama and his Administration are concerning Afghanistan, Iraq, the Gulf oil spill, North Korean and Iranian nuclear weapons, our faltering economy and so on and on then you just aren’t paying attention or you’ve drunk too much of the Kool-Aid.

I also find it extremely disturbing that in this new Progressive wave flushing through Washington D.C. that Rolling Stone magazine can now so strongly influence our foreign and military policies. My Lord what’s next, Mad Magazine dictating national health care and our economic recovery?

Well, come to think of it after the Obama Mob nationalized health care and has spent over a trillion dollars to supposedly “stimulate” the economy, yet the unemployment rate is still hanging around 10% just like eighteen months ago, any policy suggestions from Mad Magazine probably couldn’t do any worse.

It is an all too common fate in life that better men often fall under the command of lesser men. From time to time that has been especially true in our Republic where a few elected civilians are in control of the military. As is the present case, all too often these elected politicians are far more interested in political agendas than the security and defense of our Country.

Such was the case with General McChrystal and I am afraid will also be the fate that befalls General Petraeus. Men like these are what we call “shakers and doers.” They have spent their lives preparing for the moments at hand through higher education, hard earned experience, dedication to duty and by learning from their failures. They are highly motivated and take action when such actions are called for. They also follow a Code of Conduct and they believe in an old relic that America once held dear, Honor.

It is absurd to stand such resumes next to their CIC who has spent his life as a college student, community organizer and as a no-show State and US Senator, whose life studies consists of Alinsky’s “Rules For Radicals” and if he knows anything about Constitutional law it is only how to circumvent and or destroy it.

For the definition of such absurdity go to YouTube and search “Obama-Petraeus.” Watch the video of the smug junior Senator from Illinois grilling the Senior Commanding Officer about the successful “Surge” in Iraq. Obama is so clueless that even though the Surge had already proven successful he is dressing down Petraeus and telling him that Iraq is un-winnable. These Generals were serving our country while Obama was still in knee pants running around an Indonesian Islamic school playground.

In this particular president we have a thinker not a doer, a man who takes months to reach critical and timely decisions. A man who not only does not take action when it is necessary but who could only vote “Present” on most of the issues placed before him as a member of both the Illinois and US Senates.

If you take nothing else away from this Obama-McChrystal episode please take note of how quickly Obama acts, or perhaps I should say reacts, when something displeases him compared to how long it takes for him to act upon an important decision concerning the welfare of this Nation and our citizens. His uninformed knee jerk reaction of saying that, “…police acted stupidly” when they arrested his Harvard friend should have given us a fair warning of the recklessness in this man’s reactions when he is angry.

When McChrystal took command his first mission was to evaluate the situation in Afghanistan and to recommend changes in our military policy. This he accomplished in short order but was told by White House advisors that the President was not yet ready for his report, thus he was told to hold on to it.

After finally submitting his report among the many other recommendations McChrystal had requested additional combat troops, with at least a minimum of 45,000 that were needed immediately or, he felt, the mission in Afghanistan would not succeed.

Wars can be lost in a matter of days and lives are lost in just a few horrifying seconds, even so Obama waited, went golfing, waited, waited and waited and withheld his decision on sending those additional troops for four long months despite McChrystal’s warning that our mission in Afghanistan may fail without them!

To make matters even worse Obama then sent only 30,000 more men, well under the minimum of what the General had requested, and created a Mission Impossible by designating a withdrawal date for our forces from Afghanistan, which basically told our enemies that no matter what happened we would quit the war.

During this long and dangerous delay Obama hardly met with any of his advisors or with McChrystal to discuss the situation or the requests. But when McChrystal spoke out of turn in London about the delay Obama wasted absolutely no time in summoning his General for a reprimand.

Within forty-eight hours of McChrystal’s critical comments Obama had the General sitting on Air Force One in Copenhagen. Of course you all remember Obama’s unsuccessful trip to Copenhagen to persuade the International Olympic Committee to hold the Olympics in Chicago. To simply say that this President has his priorities mixed is being too kind.

So it should have been no surprise to anyone that within forty-eight hours of the Hastings’ article being released that an enraged Obama once again had General McChrystal sitting before him. When it comes to our nation’s security things can wait, but when it comes to a personal affront on his Majesty… stand back.

As it is the best man, McChrystal has been replaced and will now retire, while the totally detached, inexperienced and incompetent CIC Obama is allowed to stumble on while Hastings becomes the new hero of the Liberal media and elite.

Despite McChrystal’s mistake of allowing Hastings anywhere near him his tenure as the Commanding General in Afghanistan was doomed from the start, just as is Petraeus’. A detached, unqualified, uncaring and arrogant CIC is to blame and he is not the one who was replaced.

America has lost a Warrior, the Hero has gone home, and we are still stuck with the rest. Sleep tight America.

God Bless America And Our Armed Forces

Semper Fi

"Copyright 2010.  Michael E. Tank   All rights reserved. No part of this document may be copied, faxed, electronically transmitted, or in any other manner duplicated without express written permission of the author.”