A decent,competent military commander has been relieved from duty because he contradicted the insane ramblings of a puppet president. From the Telegraph:
President Obama’s policy of appeasing Islamic dictators has resulted in another setback for the United States and its allies. On Friday, on the orders of the US government, Major General Peter Fuller, deputy commander of the NATO mission to train the Afghani forces, was removed from his post. Fuller’s crime: telling the truth about a serious problem for NATO forces in Afghanistan.For someone of Karzai's stature to make a statement like that is beyond the pale. You would think that the hundreds of billions in taxpayer dollars that go to subsidize Afghanistan (actually over a trillion now) would give Karzai pause before saying something like this. More than anything else it reveals the mindset of a Muslim leader who is nominally a critical ally but may actually be something quite different. How many more of our Muslim allies are likely to follow in Karzai's shoes when the chips are down.
In a press interview last week, Fuller responded to Afghan president Hamid Karzai’s recent statement that he would readily join with Pakistan in a war with the United States if he had to choose sides. This is not the first time Karzai has publicly made virulent anti-American statements. On several occasions he has accused the Americans of bombing innocent Afghan civilians – accusations later proven to be completely false.
Hamid Karzai owes his position as president of Afghanistan to the sacrifice of thousands of US lives and billions of US dollars to prop up him and his regime. The UK and NATO allies have also contributed lives and blood in the objective to build a moderate and stable Afghan government. And America has loyally supported Karzai at every step. It refrained from challenging an obviously rigged presidential election and has long looked away from the behavior of Karzai’s incredibly corrupt and incompetent regime.
IMHO - All of them.
Finally, a US general responded with the mild comment that the political leaders in Kabul were “isolated from reality”. This was enough to end the career of a capable officer. However, for those who know Afghanistan, Fuller’s comment highlighted a crucial question: is Hamid Karzai is mentally unstable?Firing the messenger is a solution if your understanding of the problem is based from a vantage point midway up your colon.
For some time Karzai’s behaviour has provided plenty of evidence that he is thoroughly unhinged. The interpretation that he is simply crazy is the kindest possible one. The other possibility is that he truly despises the people who fight and die for him, and would sell the US, NATO, and many of his own people out for a political settlement with Pakistan and the Taliban that would leave him in power. This a strategic dilemma that cannot be ignored. Firing the messenger is no solution.
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