Afghanistan - Yikes!

The effort in Afghanistan continues to circle the drain.  Gen. McChrystal somehow agreed to a Rolling Stone profile which will hit the newsstands Friday; it includes sniping by McChrystal and his aides at Obama ("photo-op"), Biden ("Biden? "Bite me"), White House National Security Adviser Jim Jones (a "clown"..."stuck in 1985"), special envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan Richard Holbrooke ("Like a wounded animal"), and, of course, Ambassador Karl Eikenberry.  Marc Ambinder has more on that special relationship, which apparently went sour in 2005. 

And if a total breakdown in Afghanistan team unity isn't enough to worry about, the AllahPundit adds this to the mix from McClatchy News Service:

WASHINGTON — Private security contractors protecting the convoys that supply U.S. military bases in Afghanistan are paying millions of dollars a week in "passage bribes" to the Taliban and other insurgent groups to travel along Afghan roads, a congressional investigation released Monday has found.

The payments, which are reimbursed by the U.S. government, help fund the very enemy the U.S. is attempting to defeat and renew questions about the U.S. dependence on private contractors, who outnumber American troops in Afghanistan , 130,000 to 93,000.

So we are bribing the Taliban to let us bring in supplies to fight them? The good news is that they seem to have team unity problems, too.

The report (86 page .pdf) is at the House subcommittee on National Security and Foreign Affairs.  And we are mindful of the possibility of McClatchy hype - the cover letter from Chairman Tierney mentions

... a vast protection racket run by a shadowy network of warlords, strongmen, commanders, corrupt Afghan officials, and perhaps others.

The Taliban is notably absent from the cover page, although perhaps they are picked up by the "perhaps" inside.

OK, that pdf file froze my tired old laptop, but here we go from the Wapo:

U.S. indirectly paying Afghan warlords as part of security contract

By Karen DeYoung
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, June 22, 2010; A01

The U.S. military is funding a massive protection racket in Afghanistan, indirectly paying tens of millions of dollars to warlords, corrupt public officials and the Taliban to ensure safe passage of its supply convoys throughout the country, according to congressional investigators.

Right, then - let me unthaw my files and maybe I can see for myself.

WHERE IS THAT BLOOD PRESSURE MEDICATION?  OK, now I have two frozen computers...

FROM THE EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:

3.  Protection Payments for Safe Passage Are a Significant Potential Source of Funding for the Taliban. Within the HNT contractor community, many believe that the highway warlords who provide security in turn make protection payments to insurgents to coordinate safe passage. This belief is evidenced in numerous documents, incident reports, and e-mails that refer to attempts at Taliban extortion along the road. The Subcommittee staff has not uncovered any direct evidence of such payments and a number of witnesses, including Ahmed Wali Karzai, all adamantly deny that any convoy security commanders pay insurgents. According to experts and public reporting, however, the Taliban regularly extort rents from a variety of licit and illicit industries, and it is plausible that the Taliban would try to extort protection payments from the coalition supply chain that runs through territory in which they freely operate.

Point 1 is important (clever numbering scheme they have!) - the Taliban notwithstanding, payments to local warlords work at cross purposes to our goal of creating a strong central government.  One recalls a similar tension during the surge in Iraq, where we empowered Sunni militia that were not likely to embrace (or be embraced by) the central government.

BACK TO THE ROLLING STONE:  Unless printing presses have ears, people don't talk to "The Rolling Stone" - they talk to reporters.  Michael Hastings did the RS story; from his apparently outdated bio:

Michael Hastings spent two years reporting in Iraq as Newsweek's youngest-ever war correspondent. He has written four cover stories for Newsweek International and been published in Slate, Salon, Foreign Policy, The Los Angeles Times, filing stories from such locations as Israel, Gaza and the West Bank, Kurdistan, Vietnam, and Afganistan. He is now a contributing editor at GQ and lives in Vermont.

This GQ piece from April 2009 covered Obama's first surge.  In that piece he includes vignettes from his time embedded with front-line troops.  I infer that Mr. Hastings is a progressive war skeptic with much about which to be skeptical.

GETTING HIS WISH:  The Rolling Stone piece opens in Paris with General McChrystal, a Bud Light kind of regular guy, getting ready to go out to a fancy dinner.

"I'd rather have my ass kicked by a roomful of people than go out to this dinner," McChrystal says.

He pauses a beat.

"Unfortunately," he adds, "no one in this room could do it."

Well, maybe he will find the ass-kicking room in Washington.

Comments

[jimmyk]

He sure is Johnny-on-the-spot when he is personally trashed, isn't he?

Or whenever race is involved--as with that other Gates and the Cambridge Police.

[Sue]

Capt'n,

There's a lot of that kind of stuff being floated by people who know McChrystal. Not sure if it is damage control or truth, but someone wants that storyline out there.

[fdcol63]

Joe Klein isn't worthy of cleaning Obama's soiled underwear, much less McChrystal's.

[PDinDetroit]

OT - France goes home from the World Cup in complete disgrace, South Africa eliminated as well.

[narciso]

I thought that was what his job, was fd, It takes a great deal of restraint, to listen
to Biden,

[Dave (in MA)]

So the General can't get Ear Leader's ear for months, but he says something critical of the CIC within earshot of a music and fashion mag's writer and he gets his keister dragged to D.C. for a meeting with Jughead before the rag even hits the newsstand? Change.

[fdcol63]

Now I wish Tony Hayward had been interviewed by Rolling Stone. That meeting between him and Obama would surely have happened sooner than 50-something days, huh? LOL

[narciso]

He knew that Obama reads Rolling Stone, unlike
other publications, so there is a certain logic that I hadn't really bargained on.

[The Oil Spill]

Yeah, I put some people out of work, and I killed some birds. Who's going to do anything about it? Obama's a whiny little bitch. Biden's trying to figure out who put oil under the Gulf in the first place. Those punks couldn't shut me down if they shoved Michelle's fat ass in the pipe.

[Janet]

Yeah narciso! Maybe that is the only way for the military to get a message to Obama. Through a rock magazine! Next time McChrystal could twitter Demi if he needs anything.

[Unemployment]

Millions out of work, trillions in wealth destroyed, and I'm just getting started. Obama has never gotten a single person hired with money that wasn't taken from a productive citizen, and he's not going to start now. He's in over his head, despite having ears that could be used as flotation devices.

[glasater]

TIME's Joe Klein has a comment the gist of which is that McChrystal is just terminally candid and has no political ear at all.

There are a lot of politics in the military so I don't understand if McChrystal is tone-deaf--how in the world did he get to be a general?

[bgates]

(I figure since Obama is motivated to respond to personal slights but not to protect the welfare of the nation, why not sock puppet the nation's problems?)

[peter]

Obama would only find the article if it were placed just before the ads for bongs and penis enlargement pills in the back.

[narciso]

I read it on occasion, they revealed that Rhodes and McDonough, were the real NSC with
"Mr. 85" being the front man, they are always
crying 'quagmire' in Vietnamese, Spanish,
Arabic, and now Urdu"

[Tom R]

As a former Army officer myself, I give General McChrystal the benefit of the doubt in a few areas.

First off, I believe he is a man of integrity. That character trait is the most important for any leader, especially one in the military. The way the military promotion process is supposed to work, officers with integrity violations are supposed to get weeded out earlier in their career. Secondly, I believe he is a patriot who is doing whatever he can to successfully complete the mission that was given to him. Lastly, I believe he will do whatever he can to protect the troops under his command. "Taking care of the troops" is a mantra drilled into every officer from the minute they get commissioned. If a commander does not take care of his troops well-being (and that is an all encompassing mindset) then the troops will not take care of him, which means the mission is pretty much doomed to fail. Another mantra drilled into your head is that as a commander, its your responsibility to do everything you can to ensure you don't put the troops under your command in a position you know that they will fail.

Pure speculation here, but I am guessing that McChrystal realized that as Commander in Chief, Obama was pretty much violating those key ideals and that as long as things remained they way they currently are, mission success in Afghanistan was not possible. If McChrystal truly believed Obama's policies (or people like Holbrooke and Eikenberry) were hindering mission success, then knowingly sending his troops into harms way violates core principals that good military leaders possess. While McChrystal is getting criticized from all sides on publicly airing his criticism, its possible that he decided it was the best way for him to alter the current situation (which from all accounts is going badly) in Afghanistan, get it back on the right track and take care of his troops at the same time.

[bio mom]

In the big picture, we must support civilian control over the military. Anything else is dangerous and definitly unAmerican. Even though Obama is a total loser.

[glasater]

McChrystal's favorite movie is "Talladega Nights"?

Well, that explains everything...

[Jane]

Boy I really want to know the story behind the story.

So far Ranger, I'm with you.

[mockmook]

He's right about Eikenberry's "leak," and the rest is hard to describe as even borderline insubordination. Folks talking about UCMJ violations are going to have to explain it to me, because I don't see any "there" there at all.


Posted by: Cecil Turner | June 22, 2010 at 11:48 AM

CT,
Maybe not insubordination, but he is now apologizing for something...

[Tom R]

I just read the Rolling Stone article (LUN). The picture it paints of McChrystal as a leader is very similar to how history portrays some of our more popular military heroes. After reading the article, I have a higher respect for McChrystal's leadership skills than I did before today.

I do have to disagree with bio mom's reply above. There is nothing wrong with military officials critcizing or disagreeing with the President, SecDef, etc. It is the general's responsibility to be frank with the President, SecDef if he disagrees with their position. The issue is that should all be done privately and McChrystal knows that. The fact he agreed to this interview tells me there is some ulterior motive involved.

[The Afghanis don't see the sun rising in Obama's East.]

I agree with Ranger that this is probably a shot across the administration's bow. Deliberate or not, it reflects how the military is dealing with the fecklessness of Obama. It must be sobering for them to realize how much power they place at the disposal of their Commander-in-Chief. It should sober Obama, too, but it won't.

Hey, guys, the solution is simple. When the need arises, Sarah will re-invade Afghanistan with Special Forces and the support of the warlords. Sound familiar? Afghanis, and their warlords, er, Chieftains, don't like the Taliban. And if the Afghanis don't like you, you don't stay.
==================

[Porchlight]

I lean toward the idea that this is deliberate calculation on McChrystal's part. Especially the revelation that he voted for Obama, thus pre-empting criticism that he's a righty who never wanted Obama as his CiC in the first place.

[Clarice]

DoT, the District court judge overturned the moratorium on drilling.

***

Steny Hoyer just said essentially Afghanistan cannot be won.

[RichatUF]

Porchlight-

I don't get it. He could have resigned and leaked the resignation letter to the NYT and WaPo. He then would have had opportunity to air his grievences out to the press and congress (though this congress probably doesn't want to do that).

So Obama's central front on the War on Terror is now plagued with a general that needs replaced, civilian leadership that is dysfunctional, and broke European allies which will take the opportunity that McChrystal's replacement will afford them to bail on the mission. All in time for Obama's withdrawl schedule.

Interesting times.

[Danube of Thought]

Looks like you had it right, Clarice. If the judge issued anything in writing I'd sure love to read it.

I believe this is the first time any court anywhere has ruled that this administration exceeded its authority.

[Rick Ballard]

Rich,

I lean towards TomR's view above with Cecil's comment alongside. This one needs the 48 hour rule plus additional reflection regarding the possibility that BOzo's clown posse wants McChrystal out and is spinning a relatively innocuous interview into standard Chicago filth as a justification.

I see no reason for anyone in the military, from E-1 to O-10, to have any trust whatsoever in the Kendonesian commie. If McChrystal can prove to the public that BOzo is as dangerously clueless as he constantly demonstrates himself to be then he may be willing to endure the criticism that this gesture will generate.

[donald]

Now I like McChrystal.

Off to renact Midnight Cowboy.

[Porchlight]

Rich, I don't get it either. It seems difficult to believe that McChrystal could get this far without realizing exactly what he was doing vis a vis the media. More people will probably find out about this because it's Rolling Stone - that's all I can think of.

[East Bay Jay]

One consideration for Obama is the sight of the former general in charge of Afghanistan coming on FNC (or MSNBC) once a week or so to rip the White House on the latest news. So if the General is canned, Obama had better butter him up on the way out the door, including with the media. Also, the fact that Kerry said he'll stay is big to me. The CW is that he's gone. The only reason prominent Democrats would be saying he's not gone is if the White House felt they may need to keep him on.

[Melinda Romanoff]

Who wants a punching bag?

I got a fresh punching bag right here.

Who needs this punching bag?

[A special prosecutor for the special prosecutor.]

Fitz abrupted a criminal conspiracy just as the big fish wandered into his net. How does he justify himself?
==================

[Stephanie]

Fitz abrupted a criminal conspiracy just as the big fish wandered into his net. How does he justify himself?

He follows the awesome legal prowess of the others in this administration and declared an irrational, arbitrary and capricious moratorium on fishing/trawling and exasperated the foulness of the water?

[Stephanie]

Exascerbated... yikes. Autofill is not your friend...

[Jane says obamasucks]

Actually I think it is exacerbated - but who's counting?

[Caligula was not just a horse.]

I kind of like 'exasperated the foulness of the water'. Hey, Obama, dispatch people to beat the water. Bring back tarballs for tribute.
==============

[Stephanie]

Autofill done failed me now. Twice.

Third time.. oh, who am I kidding.

I kinda like 'exasperated the foulness of the water,' too. Has an "Al Gore was here" vibe to it. With the same results.

Heh.

[Constitutional Peasant]

I lean toward the idea that this is deliberate calculation on McChrystal's part.

Without going full-McChrystal and getting myself in trouble...

GEN McChrystal is no dummy. He certainly knew what he was doing, what the effects of what he was doing would be, and what the likely response from the Administration would be.

With that in mind, as a deliberate act, I can only surmise that he is attempting to force a serious and public conversation on the issues of troop numbers and withdrawal dates, in light of the President's and Rahm's entrenchment on those issues.

Stephanie's link to Mark Levin clearly demonstrates that the Administration views the resolution of the Afghanistan war as primarily a political problem.

GEN McChrystal, (and by extension ADM Mullen and GEN Petraeus) have an alternative viewpoint that informs their decisions on what to do and how to go about doing it. So you have a strategy for the country that is inconsistent with the resources that will be allowed to execute the strategy. Something has to give.

Having said all that, what GEN McChrystal did was extremely unseemly, and probably in violation of UCMJ. So, he'll either face consequences or he won't, but the blot will always be there. Wouldn't it be a shame if he decided that his action was the only way he could influence his CinC to do the right thing?

[Soylent Obamacare]

/sock

[All hail sockpuppets.]

God love ya' man.
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