Hersh: Obama Gaining Control Of Afghanistan War
President Barack Obama is gaining control of the war in Afghanistan, according to a veteran investigative journalist.
WASHINGTON, D.C. — President Barack Obama is gaining control of the war in Afghanistan, according to a veteran investigative journalist.
Obama showed this when he stated he is not okay with the war options given to him by his national security team.
Seymour Hersh told MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow that it’s about time.
“It could be huge, simply that the president’s finally saying, ‘I’m taking control,’” Hersh said, later adding, “Obama is just putting his foot down, and that’s great. He’s grabbing it and he hasn’t been grabbing it until now.”
Hersh explained that the fact that General McChrystal wrote his initial report at all was high unusual.
“There’s no general in history that will come back, given that assignment, and say “We can’t win,’” he said.
Hersh added that it was “big news” that the U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan, former Lieutenant General Karl Eikenberry, told Washington that deploying more troops to Afghanistan was a mistake.
Eikenberry’s cable was a slap in the face of his fellow generals who graduated from West Point at the same time, including McChrystal, Petraeus, and Odierno, Hersh explained.
It also shows that the Army itself is more dissatisfied with McChrystal than has previously been made public, he added.
“Eikenberry is simply, I think, reflecting a huge split,” Hersh said, “because he’s now splitting from the McChrystal counter-insurgency wing that’s been dominated by Petraeus.”
In other words, the difference between Eikenberry and McChrystal is one of philosphy and practicality where Eikenberry knows “the history of occupations” while McChrystal doesn’t.
