Small Wars Journal

McChrystal's Frank Talk on Afghanistan

Mon, 09/28/2009 - 5:43am
McChrystal's Frank Talk on Afghanistan - 60 Minutes, 27 September 2009.

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President Obama is rethinking his entire strategy in Afghanistan after the new commander there stunned the White House with a warning the war could be lost if he doesn't get more troops in the next 12 months. General Stanley McChrystal is up against an enemy that holds the initiative, and he's working with an Afghan government shot through with corruption.

Even with more troops, he warns, there has to be "a dramatic change in how we operate." That stark assessment comes from a man who is perhaps this country's most battle-hardened general and, according to those who have served with him, a one-of-a-kind commander.

McChrystal's Frank Talk on Afghanistan - CBS story behind the 60 Minutes interview.

Comments

Robert Mihara (not verified)

Tue, 09/29/2009 - 6:20pm

There seems to be troubling sub-text in the interview and commentary of elevating the general in the field, who gets it, over the politicians at home that don't get it. A given prejudice in favor of the soldier in the mud that gets it and the policymaker at home sipping latte that doesn't get it. While compelling storytelling, it drastically simplifies the narrative and suggests that the truth for the nation inherently lies in the realities of the battlefield. It suggests that military necessity, of winning the war, precedes sober assessment of national interest and grand strategy. It is striking that a respected news program such as 60 Minutes would so strongly privilege the perspective of the general over that of the civilian leadership at home.

This is not take anything away from Gen. McChrystal as an officer or a citizen. It is only to question the readiness with which journalists have embraced the hero-image of our general officers and projected it into the political debate over grand strategy and national policy. I think the implications for the condition of civil-military relations in the post-war are alarming.