{"id":5825,"date":"2010-06-22T11:32:16","date_gmt":"2010-06-22T15:32:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.geneveith.com\/?p=5825"},"modified":"2010-06-22T11:32:16","modified_gmt":"2010-06-22T15:32:16","slug":"military-brass-the-rolling-stone","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2010\/06\/military-brass-the-rolling-stone\/","title":{"rendered":"Military brass & the Rolling Stone"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

America\u2019s top commander and his staff in Afghanistan are in big trouble for their disrespectful remarks about their civilian bosses that they made to a reporter from Rolling Stone<\/em>:<\/p>\n

The top U.S. general in Afghanistan is headed to Washington to apologize for a magazine profile that includes highly critical remarks by him and his staff about top Obama administration officials involved in Afghanistan policy.<\/p>\n

The article in this week\u2019s Rolling Stone magazine is certain to increase tension between the White House and Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal. The profile of McChrystal, titled the \u201cRunaway General,\u201d also raises fresh questions about the judgment and leadership style of the commander appointed by President Obama last year in an effort to turn around a worsening conflict.<\/p>\n

McChrystal and some of his senior advisers are quoted speaking derisively of top administration officials, often in sharply flippant and dismissive terms. An anonymous McChrystal aide is quoted as calling national security adviser James L. Jones a \u201cclown,\u201d who remains \u201cstuck in 1985.\u201d<\/p>\n

\nReferring to Richard C. Holbrooke, Obama\u2019s senior envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan, one McChrystal aide is quoted as saying: \u201cThe Boss says he\u2019s like a wounded animal. Holbrooke keeps hearing rumors that he\u2019s going to get fired, so that makes him dangerous.\u201d\n

On one occasion, McChrystal appears to react with exasperation when he receives an e-mail from Holbrooke. \u201cOh, not another e-mail from Holbrooke,\u201d McChrystal says, according to the article. \u201cI don\u2019t even want to read it.\u201d<\/p>\n

The story also features an exchange in which McChrystal and some of his aides appear to mock Vice President Biden, who opposed McChrystal\u2019s troop surge recommendation last year and instead urged a more focused emphasis on counterterrorism operations. Preparing for a speech he is about to give at a French military academy, McChrystal \u201cwonders aloud\u201d whether he will questioned about the well-publicized differences in opinion between himself and Biden.<\/p>\n

\u201cAre you asking me about Vice President Biden? Who\u2019s that?\u201d McChrystal says with a laugh, trying out the line as a hypothetical response to the anticipated query.<\/p>\n

\u201cBiden?\u201d chimes in an aide who is seated nearby, and who is not named in the article. \u201cDid you say Bite me?\u201d<\/p>\n

U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan Karl W. Eikenberry, a retired three-star general who has sharp policy differences with McChrystal, isn\u2019t spared either. Referring to a leaked cable from Eikenberry that expressed concerns about the trustworthiness of Afghan President Hamid Karzai, McChrystal is quoted as having said: \u201cHere\u2019s one that covers his flank for the history books. Now if we fail, they can say, \u2018I told you so.\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n

The magazine hits newsstands Friday and could be posted online earlier as early as Tuesday. The Washington Post received an advance copy of the article from its author, Michael Hastings, a freelance journalist who has written for The Post in the past.<\/p>\n

via Gen. McChrystal to apologize in Washington for anti-administration comments<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The general has apologized for his \u201cpoor judgment.\u201d\u00a0 This raises all kinds of issues (the administration\u2019s handling of the war, the necessity of civilian control of the military, military discipline).\u00a0 But what I continue to marvel at is how people are so free about opening up their inmost thoughts to reporters.\u00a0\u00a0 Why would anyone on a military staff talk so openly to the Rolling Stone<\/em>, of all magazines?\u00a0 I suspect the comments sounded humorous at the time, part of a stimulating conversation with a cool writer.\u00a0 Now these guys\u2019 careers are over.<\/p>\n

I have seen this same eagerness to talk to reporters to one\u2019s ultimate hurt elsewhere.\u00a0 It must have to do with a strong ego\u2019s susceptibility to flattery.<\/p><\/div>\n<\/blockquote><\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

America\u2019s top commander and his staff in Afghanistan are in big trouble for their disrespectful remarks about their civilian bosses that they made to a reporter from Rolling Stone: The top U.S. general in Afghanistan is headed to Washington to apologize for a magazine profile that includes highly critical remarks by him and his staff […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1281,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19,29],"tags":[98,898,1208,1613,1917],"class_list":["post-5825","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-government","category-media","tag-afghanistan-war","tag-gen-stanley-a-mcchrystal","tag-journalism","tag-obama-administration","tag-rolling-stone-magazine"],"yoast_head":"\nMilitary brass & the Rolling Stone<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"America's top commander and his staff in Afghanistan are in big 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