President Obama Fired Gen. McChrystal for Insubordination

Firing a general for insubordination and disrespect to the Office of the President of the United States is nothing new in this country's history.

On April 11, 1951, President Truman fired General Douglas MacArthur of his duties as Allied Commander of United Nations forces in the Far East during the Korean War. MacArthur had openly challenged the president's leadership by threatening to attack China in defiance of the President and the United Nations.

“I fired him because he wouldn't respect the authority of the president. That's the answer to that. I didn't fire him because he was a dumb son of a bitch, although he was, but that's not against the law for generals. If it was, half to three-quarters of them would be in jail,” Truman told Merle Miller, a reporter.

Yesterday, President Barack Obama had to make similar decision as Truman to relieve an insubordinate general, Gen. Stanley McChrystal, of his duties as commander of US forces in Afghanistan.

The fact is McChrystal ain't no MacArthur. Although some are referring to him as a military genius, I do not understand why? McChrystal has never produced a workable road-map for winning any war or produced a strategic financial plan for cutting military spending. McChrystal has a history of drawing criticism, despite his so-called military achievements. Last fall, President Obama called McChrystal on the carpet for speaking too bluntly about his desire for more troops. Regarding that meeting, McChrystal said, “I found that time painful," McChrystal said in the article, on newsstands Friday. "I was selling an unsellable position." He was also criticized by Pat Tillman's family for his role in the military's handling of the friendly fire shooting of the Army Ranger, a former NFL star in Afghanistan. An investigation found that McChrystal was "accountable for the inaccurate and misleading assertions" contained in papers recommending that Tillman get a Silver Star award. There is also an ongoing criminal investigation that under McChrystal's leadership, Afghan security companies extorted as much as $4 million a week from contractors paid with U.S. tax dollars and then funneling the spoils to warlords and the Taliban, according to a U.S. military document.

As the Commander-in-Chief of the nation's military forces, President Obama has the authority to fire any insubordinate general that refuses to be a team player. The President's swift and decisive move in firing McChrystal and replacing him with Gen. David Petraeus provided him with a leadership momentum at a time when he's being unfairly blamed and criticized for BP's oil spill fiasco in the Gulf of Mexico.

Gen. Stanley McChrystal, while drunk and using "poor judgment" to do an interview in Rolling Stone magazine, makes me wonder if he intentionally used the interview as a way to force President Obama to relieve him of a job he could have been sick of in the first place.

In the Rolling Stone article, McChrystal suggested that Ambassador Karl W. Eikenberry, the top U.S. civilian in Afghanistan, "betrayed" him by suggesting in a classified cable last fall that Karzai was not a credible partner in the counterinsurgency strategy that McChrystal was advocating. He and his staff also made mocking comments regarding Richard C. Holbrooke, the special representative to Afghanistan and Pakistan, and Vice President Biden, who has expressed skepticism regarding McChrystal's counterinsurgency strategy.

"Are you asking me about Vice President Biden? Who's that?" McChrystal is quoted as saying at one point in the article.

"Biden?" chimes in an aide who is seated nearby, and who is not named in the article. "Did you say: Bite Me?"

Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said McChrystal made a "significant mistake" and used "poor judgment." "Our troops and coalition partners are making extraordinary sacrifices on behalf of our security, and our singular focus must be on supporting them and succeeding in Afghanistan without such distractions," Gates said.

President Obama announcing the firing of Gen. Stanley McChrystal, of his duties as commander of US forces in Afghanistan.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VJaApTr5Onw