Army Officials Stew over McKiernan Firing
By Anna Mulrine, Washington Whispers
Secretary of Defense Robert Gates has "gone down a few notches" in the eyes of some military officials as a result of his recent firing of top U.S. Army Gen. David McKiernan, the commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan. McKiernan was notified he would be let go just days before his scheduled home leave in April. Though his replacement, Gen. Stanley McChrystal, has a stellar reputation among his military compatriots, the manner in which McKiernan was dismissed by Pentagon leadership left a bitter taste in some mouths. "If you want to replace the guy, OK, but the way they went about it took Gates down" in the eyes of many in the military, says one senior officer. "The entire Army gasped at how rude" the process was, he adds.
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Tags: Army | Robert Gates | David McKiernan
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Terrible Lack of Respect
General David McKiernan was doing an outstanding job leading troops in Afghanistan.
The way President Obama was force fed all kinds of baloney by different military and government officials, the way he decided to force General McKiernan to resign, the way the whole disgraceful event was done, shows that protcol, decency and respect take a back seat when others want to topple someone else's career position.
This is typical of what is happening in the Army and in the military today, stalkking political networks of stalking backstabbers waiting to twist a political ally's ear around with hogwash to stab a fellow soldier and a fellow citizen right in the back - with words clearly intended to make the target appear to be incompetent.
These types of military political networks with their stalking harassment tactics continues to violate the law, the respect and the honor expected of military personnel working together and NOT against EACH OTHER - and for what do they do these very selfish actions - usually for positions of power and influence.
Increasing problems with military personnel breaking the laws against fellow soldiers and fellow citizens because they don't like him, or they don't like her, or they don't respect him, or they don't respect her, or because the target is a Republican or a Democrat.
The whole process of how General David McKiernan was forced to resign after doing an absolutely outstanding job just shows how corrupt the stalking political networks in the military have become and how politicians are easily led by those who seek their own self-aggrandizement at the expense of another fellow soldier.
Now, even today, more soldiers are dying than ever in Afghanistan, are we to hold the new leadership accountable for this travesty?
After all, wasn't the promise made by the supporters of Stanley MacChrystal that once General McKiernan's entire career was disgracefully ruined, then they would have less casualties and increasing victory in Afgahninstan???? Yes, that is what they said and exactly the opposite is happening.
Apparently, for false promises of immediate improvement, a career was once again destroyed for scapegoating purposes and aggressive self-aggrandizement.
Just another example of soldiers going against fellow soldiers instead of helping each other as required. It works against our entire nation to have this type of disgraceful backstabbing going on.
Law breaking and backstabbing continues to increase under the disguise of "teamwork", "service to the nation", "selfless service", and so on. Military power seekers going against fellow soldiers and fellow citizens because they arraogantly believe they are better than other Americans - all of this lawlessness, disrespect,stalking political networking, and lack of honorable teamwork must be STOPPED.
General MacKiernan did a great, outstanding job and much better than all of his detractors would ever be willing to admit.
mckiernan firing
to ronnie of va re GEN McKiernan believing that, "...you can fight any engagement using conventional warfare..." Actually that's not GEN McKiernan's belief -- and I say that as one who spoke with him daily over roughly 8 1/2 months -- and I don't remember seeing you in the headquarters
Human Feelings
Human feelings are never considered by the military in winning a war. They consider the dead, the wounded and how many more troops they need. The officials, like Gates, have no human feelings, neither do the top brass; unless it happens to them, of course. Yes, I spent my time in the military. It hasn't changed. Look around, those who are lucky enough to get back home get very little consideration for their human feelings or their families' while they fought or after, if any. These people are no longer an asset to the military; they are a liability. And this is America. Give a man with a family who is unemployed, no job in sight, offer him a big bonus he will volunteer to feed, clothe and house his family. What a deal! The bonus doesn't last forever, so his family is about in the same shape they were before he enlisted.
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