I have tremendous admiration for GEN Stanley McChrystal. I respect his dedication to attain victory, his strategic objectives and his pursuit to get the assets this country needs in the Afghan theater to get the job done.
Through some of my past posts, referring to President Obama’s crisis leadership, you may sense that I am less then enamored of his decision making process. Yet in the McChrystal-Obama dispute I have to lean towards the Presidents side in this one.
The lifeblood of the volunteer fire service is the adherence to the chain of command. If a Captain is badmouthing or second guessing the Chief, the chain is snapped and chaos ensues. Lack of response to direct orders or discrediting the Chief to members of the Department has never resulted in a positive outcome. It can only lead to internal firehouse strife and ineffective operations on the fireground.
The embedding of a reporter and giving him direct access and “fly on the wall” status to the daily operations of McChrystal’s Afghanistan command seems bizarre to say the least. I can’t imagine any Public Affairs Officer in the US Army thinking that this was a good media opportunity. This was like shooting fish in a barrel for Rolling Stone reporter Michael Hastings. I’m sure the word “off the record” was mentioned to Hastings many time, but as we know “off the record” oft means you’re now “on the record.”
Knowing firsthand the amount of red tape involved in getting approval and permission to cover a story involving the Army leads me to believe that this one went directly to McChrystal’s desk for his personal approval and not through the general PAO chain of command.
A typical Rolling Stone comment in Hastings article is this one attributed to McChrystal, on his computer and seeing an e-mail message from Richard Holbrooke, the State Department’s special representative for Afghanistan: “Oh, no, not another email from Holbrooke. I don’t even want to open it.” It’s something we have probably uttered many times on the job, but not to a reporter trolling for juicy material.
Nobody has to say stupid things in the presence of reporters. Nobody forced one of McChrystal aides to call Jim Jones, the national security adviser, a “clown,” or a top staff adviser to mock Vice President Joe Biden with the nickname “Bite Me.”
McChrystal and the PAO staff just can’t be that dumb. Maybe the whole thing was conceived to send a message to the administration, for all the public to see, that things are not going well on the front and the White House is floundering and not getting the job done.
If this is the case it sets a dangerous precedent never before seen in this country – a General in the military directly challenging the policy of the President in a public forum, perhaps looking for the support of the American people to move to his side.
I know it won’t happen here, but in many countries this is known as the start of a Junta.
Also on The Fire PIO…
- Do we have Robots running the country? – December 13, 2010
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