Is there a method or madness to all of the firings of America’s commanders?  Are there no checks and balances?  First, it was General McKiernan.  All he wanted was more troops which he was given – but later paid the price by being fired.  The General was described as being “too old school.”  He wanted to fight an old-fashioned war – which was to win.  Our leader boosted that the war could not be won by beating the Taliban, but by winning the hearts and minds of the Afghan people.  It was a strategy that sacrificed the lives and limbs of thousands of American soldiers to political correctness.  It was noted that the old-school general had said, “I don’t understand ever putting your men and women in harm’s way, without their having the full ability to protect themselves.  Then the new General McChrystal was the new hip, fresh blood.  This did not work because the soldiers were prevented from defending themselves to avoid offending the Afghans.  The new General presented a plan to Washington but Washington only wanted their capabilities degraded.  This also degraded into an unhappy relationship when the General was fired for a negative article that revealed he held our leader and his cronies in contempt.  Then General McChrystal was swapped for General Petraeus, a former enemy now turned wartime ally.  In two years, our leader went through three generals and fired two wartime four-star generals – thereby setting a record for mismanaging a war.  And then, Petraeus met the same fate after alienating the CIA top grass and becoming involved in a scandal.  Do you think this had anything to do with the idea of a Petraeus candidacy in 2016?  Petraeus was replaced by General Allen, who was involved in the same scandal as Petraeus.  This Petraeus/Allen debacle could make a good conspiracy story on the steps of the White House.  So now comes forth another General, General Dunford.   Maybe this one will stick.

The problems don’t stop there.  It seems after the Benghazi disaster, General Carter Ham was dismissed for telling a Republican Congressman that he had not received any requests for support.  His replacement was General Rodriguez who had taken part of McKiernan’s job after he was forced out.    Recently, General Mattis,  who was in Petraeus’s old job – U.S. Central Command –  it seems he was too outspoken about Iran.  His problem, he offended important people and he paid the price –  so they say.  In the end,  we have General Dempsey, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs.  I think this one will stick because at this point,  all we have heard is “Polly wants a cracker.”

kommonsentsjane