General McChrystal--Viper or Victum ?

There is not much left of the West Point ingrained ethos of civilian leadership when long-grey-line General McChrystal publically criticizes his White House chain of command- If McChrystal was a winner, you possibly might dismiss his rant as a frustrated tiger in cage; the fact is, his record in Afghanistan is dismal, more akin to the lion in the Wizard of Oz..

He certainly has not pacified the Taliban lands; his showcase operation at Marja was characterized by him as a running sore; he has failed to curb poppy production, train Afghan reliable poilce and military forces. If there is unity in his US and NATO command, it escapes me. His recent verbal pissing on Washington appointed civilian leadership publically in a" Rolling Stone"magazine interview destroys the unity of command at the highest level.

The General picked a wrong time to cavort when he had already over 60 KIA-the highest in a month in the 9-year war.

The military/industrial/congressional complex has already mounted a campaign to prevent his relief from command by President Obama. With trillion dollar war budgets and fifty percent of his command as private contractors , this is easy to understand. It been reported that GW Bush while in office told the then Argentine president Nestor Kirchner. that war is the economic stimulus--this concept is not new, but coming from a hypocrite that avoided service in Vietnam is new. McChrystal has also received warm support for his continued command from our puppet-off-the- string Karzai. Judas kiss ? Or mutual admiration ? Take your choice.

McChrystal is purported to be an expert in unconventional operations, yet now his command in Afghanistan has been one of conventinal operations. He loves those big immobile sprawing firebases and grand search and destroy opreations; he has even okayed recently a big special forces headquarters which should go far in the destruction of what exists as unity of command. The irony is that McChrystal commanded terrorist hunter/killer units in Iraq brilliantly despite the fact there were POW abuse scandals on his watch.

McChrystal is a hands on warrior and a brave man who has reached his level of incompetency. He bucked the system and advanced in the army as a "Ranger Stranger", special forces and unconventional warefare. His tongue got him in trouble as well as his loyal, child-like staff that trash talked the higher chain of command,apparently reflecting his views Some believe that pathos is deserved as he is relieved. I do not. He played his cards and was trumped.

What is right is that Afghanistan ,if you restrict the mission to a war on terror, is that Special forces or unconventional operations is the way to go.- -use light ,mobile skilled forces in punitive and preemptive operations .

If this to be the case, McChrystal is not the man to command it. He and Saveus Patareus are hearts and minds guys. They keep recycling tactics and strategies from the Vietnam war where they failed, never fit in Iraq and are preposterious in Afghanistan. Building bases, training local security and police forces and bribing locals always backfires in the long term. Even in an open colonial war it does not work--look what happened to the French and English colonies once Europeans were forced out. At best the US wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are covert colonial wars.

By 20thc and even the Army's lower n 21stc standards, McCytstal's arrogance and bad judgement mandate relief of command. This conduct after his cover-up of the Tillman friendly fire incident and his lobbying for troop build-up inAfghanistant outside command channels before Obama made his decision to add 30,000 troops should have alerted the President that he had a maverick general that will embarass him. I believe Mc Chrystal believed the military/industrial /congressional complex would protect as in the past; he amounted to its agent.

With Obama's leadership questioned by being led by the nose by BP on the Oil Spill, McChrystal is a viper which challenges the preisdent's leadership As Obama relieves the general ,McChrystal will be considerd a victum by the war lobbyists and many Republicans. The General has already offered his resignation and the President accepted.

These same Republicans and exmilitary will argue that in Vietnam we never lost a battle. When an American General made the same argument to a North Vietnamese general in a postwar setting, the North Vietnamese responded that this was irrelevant.--Do you think our sevice academies will ever learn that lesson ? Otherwise you will have more permanent war McChrystal and Petraeus in the pipeline. These are generals who prolong war--cannot win them, only to lose them in the end. Colonel Robert E Bartos USA Ret.

Obama--Born To Follow

After over a year in office the American people are beginning to conclude that President Obama is a follower not a leader. His technique adhering to a script provided by others did win the presidency for him, but has doomed his administration... His opponent GWBush brought down the economy embroiled the US in least two deadly and expensive wars.
Obama accelerated the Bush year’s debacles and in a short time he even heaped more woes on our nation.

BP OIL CATASTROPHE IN GULF-- Obama appointed Ken Salazar who had an oily background; he was sensitive to exploitation of oil on land, but in the sea, he was wide open to all comers; he failed to purge Big Oil clones from his Department of Interior and in a master stroke of bad timing, he came up opening more areas to off-shore drilling; this was a few weeks before BP's gusher on the bottom of the sea. It becomes clearer each day
that Salazar like BP' is part of the problem and not of the solution

Caught with his oil drilling regulatory and enforcement pants down, the BP accident hit Obama like a bomb shell. His recent advocacy of" Drill Baby Policy” off shore made him appear even more foolish... His first response was an ostrich with his head in the sand; his second was to play Hamlet and treat the event surrealistically; then he finally played Greta Garbo--"he vented to be alone" and let BP fix the mess it made; after more agony.
He finally assumed responsibility; but curiously played follow the leader with BP calling the shots.

In his dagger dance to set policy, he apparently did not understand BP wanted to cap the well, capture the flow, not to stop the flow if it endangered the heath of the bonanza well. BP sought to save the well; as a result, the Gulf was contaminated and this continues as of the writing

plugging the eruption on the sea bottom is a matter of dumping tons of, high density material or ingots on the erupting hole. If in the early 1970s the Glomar Explorer lifted a Soviet missile submarine from 16, 000 ft in the Pacific, why can we not drop and overwhelm, stuff a small pressure cavity at 5000 feet? The reason is you endanger the production of the well. Meanwhile the Gulf is screwed big time. The American public should understand Obama's choice and the consequences. He said he is responsible. Do not expect him to commit Seppuku on the map of the Gulf.
He is not a samurai for certain.

HEALTH CARE-our president followed Big Pharma and Big Insurance; his healthcare does not even appear mandatory. Without a public option, it is not competively priced and prices will soar as drug and insurance companies push for over 30 percent profits. The process has already begun.

ECONOMY--he followed Bankers and Wall Street advice--saved major banks, but Main Street is still without loans that stifles growth-- unemployment continues to rise over 10. He has resisted serious economic reforms.

AFGHANISTAN AND IRAQ WARS ET.AL...Our Commander Chief apparently follows orders from his military subordinates rather than gives them. He listened to commanders on Afghanistan and increased troop strength with sad results. Last week it was reported that our puppet-off-the-string Karzai has lost faith in the US and NATO ability to win and wants to deal with the Taliban.

Pentagon geologists recently discovered a trillion dollars worth iron.
Copper and lithium deposits in Afghanistan.--doubt that now we will ever depart that tortured land. Now the military/industrial complex can make a resource argument to remain, despite the fact the US may have to occupy all of Eurasia to get deposits out. Bad things always happen on the Grand Trunk Road and in the Kyber Pass.

As things continue to deteriorate in Iraq, commanders are hinting to remain past withdrawal deadline to train Iraqi security forces-- GULP-SAVE US PATREAUS. General, if you have not succeeded by now, forget it. Last weekend in an assault on Central Bank in Baghdad 26 were killed and scores wounded--attackers took bank records--hmm, whatever happened to the neocon's pet Iraqi banker. Ahmed Chalabi ?

WAR ON TERROR....We keep killing number three of al Qaeda, but never get number one or two-why? Obama’s drone operations in Pakistan are killing people-sometimes innocent ones that have a major blow back. Pakistan insurgents launched failed operation on Times Square--next time they may score tragically. Obama has expanded the war to Pakistan, but without sapping terrorism. Taliban in Pakistan are destroying US supply convoys at an unacceptable rate. Last week over 50 trucks carrying NATO/US fuel and supplies were reportedly destroyed near Islamabad in one attack. Attackers escaped. Dollar damage was not reported. Three quarters of NATO US military supplies pass through Pakistan. Obama is certainly taking bad advice from someone on his terrorism program with his careless use of drones in Pakistan.

Let us face it. With few exceptions, most politicians are not leaders. They are followers controlled by campaign donations and self interest. Obama despite following the chaos of GW Bush and thumping the McCain/Palin boobs had nowhere to go but up. So he really had to try hard to stay in a downward spiral. BORN TO FOLLOW. Colonel Robert E Bartos USA Ret.

Murder-Israel and Gaza

'Murder She Wrote' That is the epilogue to the Israeli Jews' slaughter tomore non-combants in their bloody affair, Gaza. A 19-year Turk withAmerican citizenship was assassinated with four bullets in his head andone in his chest by Israeli commandos assaulting unarmed ships on thehigh seas. It is preposterious that the the Israelis claim self-defense in theincident; it is repulsive that the US solely defends the Jewish state byfailing to condemn the atrocity as a war crime; and further diplomaticallyprotects Israel from international investigation.

Nine Turkish men on board the Mavi Marmara were shot a total of 30 times and five were killed by gunshot wounds to the head, according to the vice-chairman of the Turkish council of forensic medicine, which carried out the autopsies for the Turkish ministry of justice today.The Turkish Prime Minister has accused Israel of State Terror and has withdrawn its ambassador from Israel.

By any standard the Israeli commando operartion was botched. It attacked the main ship in the populated center deck , instead of working its way carefully forward from the aft. As a result four Israeli were captured , disarmed and sent below as POWs . The Israeli s then turned the main deck into a free fire zone--either out of panic, fright or revenge--not exactly conduct of a disciplined force--more like thugs-Even the Somali pirates are more skilled...at least they can take a ship without killing.

Years ago while on duty as an escort for an Israeli officer at the Pentagon , I asked an Israel colonel on why Israelis were so sucessful in their wars. As I suggest better equipment. planning, elan, but he waved me off and replied JUST FIGHT ARABS. Well folks, Turks are not Arabs. Had the Turks been armed or military trained, the Israelis would be having the the funerals. Turks are a blood-in-the-eye tribe. Doubt they will forget their dead without some form of revenge. Ask the Kurds about this.

This incident could end a symbiotic Turkish/ Jewish relationship since the Spanish expelled the Jews from Spain in 1492. Turks took in refugee Jews who helped them in commerce and letters--In exchange the Turks gave the Jews a place to live safely and prosper. Natanyhu may have ended that with a stupidly arrogant bloody act against the Turks. Mossad surely knew the names and nationalities of the peace activists, so there was no excuse for killing the Turks--All KIAs were Turks.

The US Israeli lobby went into full mode to defend Israeli murders. As Israeli held the kidnapped activists incommunicado, the US media slavishly played Jewish edited versions of visual tapes . Fox interviewed The Israeli Ambassador to US but not the Turkish one. Israeli talking points flooded the airwaves and TV. Pathetc right-wing talk shows fell over themselves to defend the Israeli murders. Poor Chris Matthews , one of those opportunist liberals even defended Israel.

The Gaza Blocade is already started to crack with Egypt relenting on crossings. The Israelis are still in hot water over the UN Goldstone report accusing them of killing non-combatants in the bombing of Gaza as Obama took office. Like it or not Hamas was democratically elected to power in Gaza. There is a good chance the situation could escalate as Turkey and Iran hint at warships to escort aid flotillas to Gaza.

Obama appears helpless as Netanyahu is the ringmaster of a four-ringed circus in the US--ie., the House, the Senate, The State Department and Defense- all under Jewish Lobby control. Given the number of American Jews on the White House staff, it appears Obama has an in-house kibbutz.

Desiree Rogers, Obama former chief of protocol, fired over the first farsical state dinner, reportedly described her role as,"I ' AM HERE TO BRAND THE OBAMA BRAND. As of now the Obama brand is a star of David or a menorah or the yellow and green BP logo. Colonel Robert E Bartos USA ret