horse of george

"... noble sentiments, sure - but the fact is there are many more McChyrstals out there and we'll probably be hearing from them - and that's not just because of the incendiary nature of modern media - but also because our military is under pressure and threatened by several unpredictable dynamics: one, competing long term strategic visions increasingly at odds within the military, in short best summed up by those that believe China and its eventual satellites are the real threat and those that think the future is all about COIN and 'small wars'; two, that 'strategic' problem exacerbated by a poor economy and large deficits equaling a smaller piece of the pie for the military and therefore an inability to accommodate both visions; and three, those two problems further exacerbated by America's increasing isolation as the only Western military of any value whatsoever. Add to those ills a second Obama term [god help us] and/or our most famous general suffering a humiliating defeat in Afghanistan - and hell let's throw in Iran getting the bomb and another war in the Mideast - and yeah, you're gonna see more McChrystals and the possible rise of significant strain in civilian/military affairs..."