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October 06, 2009
Obama Throwing Generals Petraeus and McChrystal Under The Bus
Obama is not just avoiding his top general in Afghanistan. Obama has also pushed aside miracle worker General David Petraeus.
Voice of Bush’s Favored General Is Now Harder to Hear
Gen. David H. Petraeus, the face of the Iraq troop surge and a favorite of former President George W. Bush, spoke up or was called upon by President Obama “several times” during the big Afghanistan strategy session in the Situation Room last week, one participant says, and will be back for two more meetings this week.
But the general’s closest associates say that underneath the surface of good relations, the celebrity commander faces a new reality in Mr. Obama’s White House: He is still at the table, but in a very different seat.
No longer does the man who oversees the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have one of the biggest voices at National Security Council meetings, as he did when Mr. Bush gave him 20 minutes during hourlong weekly sessions to present his views in live video feeds from Baghdad. No longer is the general, with the Capitol Hill contacts and web of e-mail relationships throughout Washington’s journalism establishment, testifying in media explosions before Congress, as he did in September 2007, when he gave 34 interviews in three days.
The change has fueled speculation in Washington about whether General Petraeus might seek the presidency in 2012. His advisers say that it is absurd — but in immediate policy terms, it means there is one less visible advocate for the military in the administration’s debate over whether to send up to 40,000 additional troops to Afghanistan.
General Petraeus’s aides now privately call him “Dave the Dull,” and say he has largely muzzled himself from the fierce public debate about the war to avoid antagonizing the White House, which does not want pressure from military superstars and is wary of the general’s ambitions in particular.
The general’s aides requested anonymity to talk more candidly about his relationship with the White House.
“General Petraeus has not hinted to anyone that he is interested in political life, and in fact has said on many occasions that he’s not,” said Peter Mansoor, a retired Army colonel and professor of military history at Ohio State University who was the executive officer to General Petraeus when he was the top American commander in Iraq.
“It is other people who are looking at his popularity and saying that he would be a good presidential candidate, and I think rightly that makes the administration a little suspicious of him.”
General Petraeus’s advisers say he has stepped back in part because Mr. Obama has handpicked his own public face for the war in Afghanistan, Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, who last week gave an interview to CBS’s “60 Minutes,” met with Mr. Obama on Air Force One and used a speech in London to reject calls for scaling back the war effort.
If anything, General McChrystal’s public comments may prove that General Petraeus might be prudent to take a back seat during the debate. On Sunday, when CNN’s John King asked Gen. James L. Jones, the national security adviser, if it was appropriate for a man in uniform to appear to campaign so openly for more troops, General Jones replied, “Ideally, it’s better for military advice to come up through the chain of command.”
How much General Petraeus’s muted voice will affect Mr. Obama’s decision on the war is unclear, but people close to him say that stifling himself in public could give him greater credibility to influence the debate from within. Others say that his biggest influence may simply be as part of a team of military advisers, including General McChrystal and Adm. Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
The men are united in what they see as the need to build up the American effort in Afghanistan, although General Petraeus, who works closely with General McChrystal, said last week that he had not yet endorsed General McChrystal’s request for more troops.
Together the three are likely to be aligned against Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr., as well as other administration officials who want to scale back the effort. In that situation, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates, who has worried about a big American presence in Afghanistan but left the door open to more troops, could be the most influential vote.
What is clear is that General Petraeus’s relationship with Mr. Obama is nothing like his bond with Mr. Bush, who went mountain biking with the general in Washington last fall, or with Mr. Obama’s opponent in the 2008 presidential campaign, Senator John McCain of Arizona, whose aides briefly floated the general’s name last year as a possible running mate.
By then the general had been talked about as a potential presidential candidate himself, which still worries some political aides at the White House.
But not Mr. Obama, at least according to one of his top advisers. “The president’s not thinking that way, and the vice president’s not thinking that way,” said Rahm Emanuel, the White House chief of staff. “The president values his insights in helping to turn around an eight-year-old war that has been neglected.”
General Petraeus’s advisers say that to preserve a sense of military impartiality, he has not voted since at least 2003, and that he is not sure if he is still registered in New Hampshire, where he and his wife own property. The general has been described as a Republican, including in a lengthy profile in The New Yorker magazine last year. But a senior military official close to him said last week that he could not confirm the general’s political party.
In the meantime, General Petraeus travels frequently from his home in Tampa to Washington, where he met last week with the Afghan foreign minister. He also had dinner with Richard C. Holbrooke, the administration’s special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan. The general also makes calls on Capitol Hill.
“He understands the Congress better than any military commander I’ve ever met,” said Senator Lindsey Graham, the South Carolina Republican, who said that General Petraeus had the nationwide influence to serve as a spokesman for the administration’s policy on the Afghan war.
But until the president makes a decision, and determines if he wants to deploy General Petraeus to help sell it, the commander is keeping his head down. “He knows how to make his way through minefields like this,” said Jack Keane, the former vice chief of staff of the Army.
White House angry at General Stanley McChrystal speech on Afghanistan
The relationship between President Barack Obama and the commander of Nato forces in Afghanistan has been put under severe strain by Gen Stanley McChrystal’s comments on strategy for the war.
By Alex Spillius in Washington
According to sources close to the administration, Gen McChrystal shocked and angered presidential advisers with the bluntness of a speech given in London last week.
The next day he was summoned to an awkward 25-minute face-to-face meeting on board Air Force One on the tarmac in Copenhagen, where the president had arrived to tout Chicago’s unsuccessful Olympic bid.
In an apparent rebuke to the commander, Robert Gates, the Defence Secretary, said: “It is imperative that all of us taking part in these deliberations, civilians and military alike, provide our best advice to the president, candidly but privately.”
Tensions rise over Afghanistan war strategy
As Obama's team works on its plans, McChrystal and other advisors are asked to keep the process more private.
By Christi Parsons October 5, 2009
Reporting from Washington - Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said Monday that President Obama's advisors should keep their guidance private, in effect admonishing the top U.S. and allied commander in Afghanistan for publicly advocating a troop-intensive military approach at a time when the White House is considering an overhaul of its strategy.
The comment by Gates came a day after a top White House official, national security advisor James Jones, said military commanders should convey their advice through the chain of command, a sharp reaction to Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal's call in a speech in London last week for a strategy aimed at stabilizing Afghanistan.
The exchanges suggested a certain disarray in the Obama administration attempt to forge a new policy on Afghanistan and underscored the wide differences among top officials over the correct approach after eight years of failed efforts.
The controversy centered on McChrystal, a special forces commander tapped by Obama to take charge of the Afghanistan effort in June to institute a sweeping counterinsurgency strategy. Obama and McChrystal spoke Friday aboard Air Force One on an airport tarmac in Copenhagen, and White House officials did not detail what the two talked about.
Gates' comments, in an address before an Assn. of the U.S. Army meeting, came in the midst of what the Pentagon chief called a "hyper-partisan" debate over Afghanistan policy. Many Republicans and even some leading Democrats demand the president comply with commanders' troop requests.
Wild Thing's comment..........
First, they are ignoring Petraeus. Second, they are out to get McChyrstal. What is next? I think we will be seeing a lot of stories in print and in the TV meida the losses of Russia in Afghanistan .
This is worse then if Obama was simply confused and being out of his realm, this is by design by Obama.
I am grateful to Gen. David H. Petraeus and General Stanley McChrystal for their service and these articles that slander them and Obama doing all he can to put them under the bus is unforgivable. These POS would not be living in a free land if it were not for our military. With Bush our military got treated with respect and also received timely answers. With Obama there is no respect and obviously disarray. Not good and even worse with a hot war going on and our troops dying on the battle field.
....Thank you Mark for sending this to me.
Mark
3rd Mar.Div. 1st Battalion 9th Marine Regiment
1/9 Marines aka The Walking Dead
VN 66-67
Posted by Wild Thing at October 6, 2009 06:49 AM
Comments
I find the expressions of our troops very interesting. They HATE Obama. He can pretend all he wants; he is NOT a CIC.
Posted by: SSgt Steve, USMC(PS) at October 6, 2009 07:39 AM
Of course he's doing that. He believes military people are stupid and can't tie their own shoes without help, but he also believes normal Americans can't do that either. It's his way or no way. He's just mad because he didn't come up with it himself. But he wouldn't have anyway.
Posted by: Lynn at October 6, 2009 08:25 AM
As long as this communist wetback is in office, things will not get any better for our troops. We can hope that Judge Carter reads these news stories and realizes that, for the sake of the Marines in Afghanistan, he needs to stop kicking the birth cert issue down the road and rule in favor of Taitz, Keyes. Let's see some proof of eligibility.
Posted by: Jim at October 6, 2009 08:59 AM
So much for the transparency promised by obama. Now he is demanding the generals be quiet. This is rapidly turning into another Vietnam, where politics took precedence over military strategy.
The only thing obama knows about war is talking about surrendering. He stated he was not seeking a victory. That had to give a lot of confidence to the Taleban and Al-Queda.
Posted by: TomR at October 6, 2009 10:06 AM
Whether to laugh or cry? The troops most certainly dislike Obama. I wasn't going to say anything but this is what happens when we have Obama and the Brits have Gordon Brown.
Posted by: Jack at October 6, 2009 05:47 PM
SSgt Steve, USMC(PS), I agree, their
expressions do not lie and they speak
volumes.
Posted by: Wild Thing at October 6, 2009 07:28 PM
Lynn, that is exactly how he thinks.
"He believes military people are stupid and can't tie their own shoes without help, but he also believes normal Americans can't do that either."
Posted by: Wild Thing at October 6, 2009 07:30 PM
Jim, great name for him.
"communist wetback"
Posted by: Wild Thing at October 6, 2009 07:32 PM
Tom, oh man this is so sickening to see
happening and feel so awful we can't do
anything to stop it. I swore this would
NEVER happen again and now this.
It breaks my heart, I worry so much
about our troops.
Posted by: Wild Thing at October 6, 2009 07:34 PM
Jack, that is a good example.
Posted by: Wild Thing at October 6, 2009 07:49 PM
The same views that HILLARY had last year at this time, eh?
Posted by: darthcrUSAderworldtour07 at October 6, 2009 10:11 PM
