Hope they're astute enough to have an ongoing percentage clause in the contracts. I picture that curly haired guy in the Scottrade commercials telling them, "you don't need a percentage clause, it's all taken care of. "
Where were you guys with all this respect for the civilian leadership/chain of command jargan when Bush went into Afghanistan in the first place? If I remember correctly, you were calling Bush and the generals "war criminals". Etc... Curious change of tune...
Better yet, how about when the generals were pushing back against Rumsfeld, 2004-2006? Seem to remember the left all over it in support of the generals' disrespect then. This whole incident is nothing but a distraction.
Never take a Republican at their word, Notice how he conveniently left out the part about the President http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oath_of_enlistment http://usmilitary.about.com/od/joiningthemilitary/a/oathofenlist.htm
I, (NAME), do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and that I will obey the orders of the President of the United States and the orders of the officers appointed over me, according to regulations and the Uniform Code of Military Justice. So help me God.
it's an historic day ... if this episode doesn't crystallize the ineptitude of Obama, few things will. Oh, I offered the accidental nuking of Canada, as a possible situation that would make it more clear... It seems obvious what happened, mcChrystal, like most are coming to realize, doesn't want ANYTHING TO DO WITH OBAMA. Personally, I think we will survive this guy, provided we vote him the hell out soon.
Generals do not get to determine who is an enemy...no matter if they are foreign or domestic. This will be a very different nation if Generals begin to make up their own determinations about who the enemy is. That would be the end of our freedoms. General McCrystal did not fall on his sword for honor. He damaged his own reputation and disgraced himself. He spent the last few days apologzing for his own petty remarks. There is certainly nothing honorable about that. He could have used just a little bit of good judgement and made an honorable protest resignation...that would have had some good and lasting effect, but he blew that opportunity and now most Americans do not know what his exact point of protest was...they just know his juvenile comments about his superiors. Remember, the President gave McCrystal most of what he wanted for Afghanistan...he rejected Biden's plan and went with the surge. McCrystal probably had some legitimate concerns about how the strategy was being implement and what resources were being allocated, but that is almost always the case. Ultimately the American people will have to decide if they really want to remain significantly engaged in Afghanistan. You would think that an organization like NATO could mount a sustained effort over 25 years, if necessary, to wear down and defeat a group like the Taliban. It may mean only keeping 40,000 troops on the ground and using Afghanistan as a permanent live fire training ground for the entirety of NATO forces. The Taliban remain a threat to almost all sane people around the world and letting them run a country again will eventually become a problem for the West again. If a group like the Taliban is able to defy and eventually chase NATO out of the country, then it will be impossible to continue the world policeman role the US has been doing for the last 50 years. Most wars of the future will probably be these counter-insurgency struggles and our enemies will try and wait us out, especially if we continue to demonstrate a lack of staying power.
I think we should suspend all military activity, or at least, severely scale it back until Obama is gone. (And then further after he is gone) We have a commander who thinks little of drinking it up in the presence of Rolling Stone magazine while ridiculing his commander-in-chief. Leaders-lead, I don't know what the hell you call what Obama is doing. Where is Hillary's "Reset" Button? (Although, it's "Reset" in English, how she spelled it in Russian is another question)