Bringing down McChrystal

The beleaguered coalition mission in Afghanistan was dealt another serious blow last week when the U.S. commander was toppled from his post, not by the proverbial enemy’s sword, but rather by the pen of an American reporter.

With a 5,000-word feature article in Rolling Stone magazine, Michael Hastings was able to do what no enemy combatant could manage in over three decades of front-line service: he brought down Lt.-Gen. Stanley McChrystal.

Although the Rolling Stone edition containing Hastings’ report was not officially to go on sale until last Friday, word of its contentious contents leaked into the mainstream media last Monday.

The allegations that McChrystal had privately conveyed to Hastings some doubts about the support he was receiving from President Barack Obama were enough to have the general summoned post-haste to the White House. After a 22-minute face-to-face with Obama in the Oval Office, it was announced that McChrystal would not be returning to Kabul.

I read the Rolling Stone article, The Runaway General, and must admit that I did not believe it would result in McChrystal being sacked. In essence, the behind-the-scenes profile of the general and his staff officers — self-proclaimed Team America — provides a personal glimpse into the lives of those men responsible for waging the war in Afghanistan.

True to his previous hype, McChrystal is depicted as the ultimate Spartan warrior: obsessed with physical fitness, requiring just four hours of sleep a night and allowing himself just one simple meal a day.

After taking command of the Afghanistan mission last year, McChrystal earned himself the enmity of many a comfortable rear-echelon NATO soldier when he described the airfield in Kandahar as an amusement park.

Among his first directives were the cancellation of ballroom dancing classes and ordering the removal of all fast-food outlets from the base. (The Tim Hortons franchise had to be relocated within the confines of the Canadian compound in Kandahar in order to escape McChrystal’s eviction notice.)

While it is generally accepted that U.S. military personnel are to maintain a public loyalty to their commander-in-chief, it would be impossible to imagine a scenario whereby a senior officer would always be in complete harmony with his political master. But to put his comments in context, the contentious statements were uttered in private among McChrystal’s personal staff, albeit with a reporter in attendance.

As stinging as it may have been for Obama’s aides to read McChrystal’s criticisms in print, they themselves have no doubt uttered equally disparaging comments about their military commanders in private. Had Obama consented that he employs McChrystal for his counsel and not blind obedience, he might have strengthened the relationship.

On the eve of McChrystal’s major offensive, keeping him in the post after this gaffe would have put even more pressure on the general to produce some positive results. Instead, he is sacked, and his former boss, Gen. David Petraeus, the man who convinced Obama to appoint McChrystal in the first place, has been ordered to clean up the mess.

One can also bet that U.S. commanders will now be loath to allow any journalist the same casual access that was granted to Hastings. And from a personal perspective, that is a pity