October 09, 2009

General's D.C. Trip Put Off as Strategy Talks Drag On(McCrystal told we'll call you...)

What we are witnessing ..... is what happens when you elect a man who never had to sit in the BIG CHAIR and make the BIG decisions....in his entire life. We are getting what we paid for.....inexperience on a grand stage for the world to see. And toss in some Pentagon infighting as the Perfumed Generals of the cocktail curcuit...try to serve their new White House overlords.

Wash Post

The White House has told the top U.S. and NATO commander in Afghanistan to delay a planned trip here Friday to brief President Obama and his senior advisers on his recommendation for a major troop increase.

Officials had hoped to have Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal and what national security adviser James L. Jones called "all the key players" speak to Obama in person by the end of this week, leading to final deliberations over a forward strategy.

But "we're not finished," Jones said Thursday, and meetings may extend beyond next week. When the White House is ready, he said, McChrystal -- along with the U.S. ambassadors to Afghanistan and Pakistan -- will fly to Washington so that the three "can meet with the president before a decision is made."

McChrystal initially planned to arrive in Washington in time for the meeting, "but he was told it would be best if he stayed in Afghanistan" for the time being, a senior military official in Kabul said. The message, which originated with Jones, was conveyed by Gates.

Although officials in Washington insisted that the decision to delay the trip reflected only the timing of White House deliberations, this military official said that it was equally a reflection of the desire of both Gates and Mullen to take the lead military role in the discussions. Gates, he said, has worked hard to forge a close relationship with Obama and thinks he can effectively represent the Pentagon's positions.

Mullen is determined to fulfill his responsibility to represent the views of all the service chiefs in a way he thinks was circumvented under Bush, a Pentagon official said. "Our perspective," he said, "is that [Obama] prefers to use the chain of command and that he wants to hear what the chiefs think."