Foreign Policy Blogs

GailForce: General McChrystal – Fallen Warrior

Today is my birthday and having just returned home after spending two weeks away dealing with a family emergency, I had hoped to spend a quiet day contemplating personal goals for the next year and ending the day overeating with friends at one of my favorite restaurants.  The best laid plans…I kept turning on the TV and checking the web for updates on the General McChrystal situation. 

 

Given the media frenzy over the Rolling Stone article on the General and his staff, I was not surprised to hear that the President relieved him of his command.  I am saddened that such a distinguished warrior was brought down by unguarded comments made in the presence of a media rep rather than his performance on the battlefield. I read the Rolling Stone article today.  I think its worth noting that General McChrystal did not criticize President Obama’s handling of the Afghanistan strategy, he just bad mouthed members of the national security team.  Most of the comments have been widely reported elsewhere so I won’t reiterate except to say he’s not the only member of the team to criticize other members. 

 

According to a New York Times press report, “At a time when violence in Afghanistan is sharply rising and several central planks of the president’s strategy…have stalled, many of the president’s top advisers have continued to criticize one another to reporters and international allies alike, usually in private conversations, and almost always off the record”.

 

Unfortunately for the General he made his comments on the record and this was not his first mishap with the media.  The Rolling Stone article covers the earlier incident.  “After arriving in Afghanistan last June, the general conducted his own policy review, ordered up by Defense Secretary Robert Gates.  The …report was leaked to the press, and its conclusion was dire:  If we didn’t send another 40,000 troops..we were in danger of ‘mission failure’.  The White House was furious.  McChrystal, they felt, was trying to bully Obama, opening him up to charges of being weak on national security unless he did what the general wanted.”  It’s ironic that although it took President Obama longer than many including myself felt was needed to come to a decision on the Afghanistan policy, General McChrystal got most of what he wanted.

 

 While I was still in college, my Father took my brother and me to see the movie Patton starring George C. Scott.  My Dad often used movies as teaching points.  As we drove home after the movie, he said from his perspective as a former Army enlisted man there were two types of military leaders.  There was the politician, who could fight budget wars forge alliances and develop strategic military policies; then there was the blood and guts general, a brilliant warrior, who would lead his troops into Hell if necessary.  My Dad said this second type of leader was needed to win wars but the inability to successfully navigate the political and media landscape caused them to sometimes shoot themselves in the foot.

 

 As I watched the events unfold today, this conversation with my Father dominated my thinking.  In the end, President Obama did not have much choice. 

 

Author

Gail Harris

Gail Harris’ 28 year career in intelligence included hands-on leadership during every major conflict from the Cold War to El Salvador to Desert Storm to Kosovo and at the forefront of one of the Department of Defense’s newest challenges, Cyber Warfare. A Senior Fellow for The Truman National Security Project, her memoir, A Woman’s War, published by Scarecrow Press is available on Amazon.com.