I’m no fan of conspiracy theories, but I find it hard to believe that a commander as smart and ambitious as General Stanley McCrystal just let it happen-the Rolling Stone interview.
It is obvious to many of us, and certainly him, that the war in Afghanistan is a loser. America simply cannot afford, economically and politically, to send the 200-300,000 military and civilian personnel necessary to win. By this time next year, as the date President Obama set for the start of troop withdrawals nears, the majority sentiment will be to speed up the get out, and get out completely.
McCrystal wants to get fired. Now, before he gets tainted by the failure.
However, by the time the campaigns for the 2016 presidential election begin to rev up, a large chunk of the electorate will claim “we coulda won that war.” Who better a standard-bearer for that faction than General Stan, the heroic martyr of the Afghanistan War?
Anyone here remember the last years of the Vietnam War, 1972-75? As public sentiment swung against the war, and Congress gradually choked off funding support for the corrupt inept South Vietnam government. Ever since then the proportion of Americans who believe “we coulda won that war” has grown. Things happen faster nowadays. Gen. Stan might even run in 2012.
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