McCrystal

NORMAN SOLOMON
Solomon today wrote the
piece "From
Great Man to Great Screwup: Behind the McChrystal Uproar," which
states: "But the most profound aspects of Rolling Stone's article 'The
Runaway General' have little to do with the general. The takeaway is --
or should be -- that the U.S. war in Afghanistan is an insoluble
disaster, while the military rationales that propel it are insatiable.
'Instead of beginning to withdraw troops next year, as Obama promised,
the military hopes to ramp up its counterinsurgency campaign even
further,' the article points out. And 'counterinsurgency has succeeded
only in creating a never-ending demand for the primary product supplied
by the military: perpetual war.'"

Solomon, author of War Made Easy: How Presidents and Pundits Keep
Spinning Us to Death and executive director of the Institute for
Public Accuracy, visited Kabul last year. He is available for a limited
number of interviews.

RAY McGOVERN
McGovern just wrote the piece "Obama's
Truman-MacArthur Moment," which states: "The Rolling Stone article
is also strike two for McChrystal's insubordination. His first strike
came last fall when his recommendation for 40,000 additional troops was
leaked to the press. He also publicly dismissed a more targeted approach
toward attacking al-Qaeda terrorists reportedly advocated by Vice
President Joe Biden.

"The leak of McChrystal's recommendation came well before Obama had
decided on a course of action, but the timely disclosure cornered the
President, who didn't dare push back against his generals and remind
them about the U.S. principle of civilian control of the military."

McGovern works with Tell the Word, the publishing arm of the
ecumenical Church of the Saviour in inner-city Washington. He served as
an Army infantry/intelligence officer in the early Sixties and then as a
CIA analyst for the next 27 years. He is now a member of the Standing
Group, Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity.

KATHY KELLY
Recently back from over a month in Pakistan and Afghanistan, Kelly
said today: "Sec. Gates replaced Gen. McKiernan with Gen. McChrystal
because he and others in the Obama administration wanted to employ
McChrystal's experience in organizing special operations. In Iraq, that
experience involved developing death squads, planning night raids and
coordinating undercover assassinations. McChrystal has threatened U.S.
national security by fostering, in Iraq and now in Afghanistan,
conditions that build intense rage toward the United States. Again and
again, in the past year, he has given a wink and a nod to U.S. special
operations atrocities and then stood before cameras and microphones to
say, 'We're sorry.' ...

"Sec. Gates, Gen. Petraeus -- as well as President Obama -- are just
as culpable as Gen. McChrystal for the killing, destruction and
criminality that goes on, every day, in Afghanistan. We shouldn't be
lulled into thinking that the most serious offense committed involves a
general and his aides making sniggering and critical remarks about U.S.
officials. The real crimes committed involve killing innocent people,
including children, and prolonging the agony of a war of choice waged by
war profiteers." Kelly is with Voices for
Creative Nonviolence.