05/12/2009 11:35:17 AM EST
Gen. David McKiernan Sacked - A Bold Move By President Barack Obama
posted by gatekeeper50
President Barack Obama has made a bold and decisive move firing Gen. David McKiernan over a year before his normal rotation. He is not only signaling a change in direction and philosophy in the war in Afghanistan (see
my TYT comment on Feb. 21, 2009), he has also sent a signal to the Pentagon that the Department of Defense is under his command and will follow his philosophy or those that don't will be removed.
U.S. Replaces Commander in Afghanistan in War OverhaulElisabeth Bumiller | Washington | May 12
WASHINGTON —
The Pentagon is replacing the top American commander in Afghanistan, Gen. David McKiernan, less than a year after he took over, marking a major overhaul in military leadership of a war that has presented President Obama with a worsening national security challenge.
Defense officials said that General McKiernan was removed because of what they described as a conventional approach to what has become one of the most complicated military challenges in American history. He is to be replaced by Lt. Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, a former commander of the Joint Special Operations Command who recently ran all special operations in Iraq.
The decision reflects a belief that the war in Afghanistan has grown so complex that it needs a commander drawn from the military’s unconventional warfare branch.
“Our mission there requires new thinking and new approaches by our military leaders,” said Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates at a news conference this afternoon announcing General McKiernan’s dismissal.
Mr. Gates and Adm. Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, offered few reasons for General McKiernan’s ouster beyond generalities that “fresh eyes” were needed. “Nothing went wrong and there was nothing specific,” Mr. Gates said. It was simply his conviction, he added, “that a new approach was probably in our best interest.”
In February, Mr. Obama announced a new strategy, a troop increase and a broader commitment to civilian instruction for the war in Afghanistan.
General McKiernan was first told of the decision to dismiss him some weeks ago by Admiral Mullen. Mr. Gates discussed the decision with General McKiernan last week during a visit Mr. Gates made to Kabul.
General McKiernan had served in his current command for only 11 months, while such tours are usually two years or more.
There are several reasons that Gen. McKiernan may have been removed from a change in philosophy in how to conduct the war effort that is not his area of expertise, to a lack of understanding of the Afghanistan regions where the Taliban insurgency is growing most support, to ties to the military industrial complex which may be why McKiernan has attempted to prolong the engagement beyond Obama's stated withdrawal goals. The following are links to related topics followed by a story about what McKiernan did when he took over the command of forces in Afghanistan that reeks of Cheney and Rumsfeld.
Reuters: Afghanistan occupation PSYOPS and press offices to formally merge; what else is new?!Submitted by HongPong on Sat, 2008-11-29 18:29.
Why actually win a hopeless war, when you can run a perception management campaign to trick the American public into thinking you're winning?!?
"Information Operations, Spinstorms & latent contradictions" indeed... Previously noted: "The strategic target remains our population:" Some more tasty links: military industrial complex in America and in yr brains! | HongPong.com
and another example of the program - exposed via FOIA: NYTimes: Behind TV Analysts, Pentagon’s Hidden Hand
Sometimes these cats make my paranoia obsolete. It's sooo easy :)
For your reference: The official US Army Psychological Operations manual.
The target is your brains!!! Ahh formalized domestic-directed propaganda, so clean & polished. I wonder how many contractors will profit! (huge hat tip to barrisj_redux @agonist)
Press And "Psy Ops" to Merge At NATO Afghan HQ - Sources - NYTimes.com
Press And "Psy Ops" to Merge At NATO Afghan HQ: SourcesBy REUTERS Published: November 29, 2008
Filed at 2:01 a.m. ET
KABUL (Reuters) - The U.S. general commanding NATO forces in Afghanistan has ordered a merger of the office that releases news with "Psy Ops," which deals with propaganda, a move that goes against the alliance's policy, three officials said.
The move has worried Washington's European NATO allies -- Germany has already threatened to pull out of media operations in Afghanistan -- and the officials said it could undermine the credibility of information released to the public.
Seven years into the war against the Taliban, insurgent influence is spreading closer to the capital and Afghans are becoming increasingly disenchanted at the presence of some 65,000 foreign troops and the government of President Hamid Karzai.
Taliban militants, through their website, telephone text messages and frequent calls to reporters, are also gaining ground in the information war, analysts say.
U.S. General David McKiernan, the commander of 50,000 troops from more than 40 nations in NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), ordered the combination of the Public Affairs Office (PAO), Information Operations and Psy Ops (Psychological Operations) from December 1, said a NATO official with detailed knowledge of the move.
"This will totally undermine the credibility of the information released to the press and the public," said the official, who declined to be named.
ISAF spokesman Brigadier General Richard Blanchette said McKiernan had issued a staff order to implement a command restructure from December 1 which was being reviewed by NATO headquarters in Brussels, but he declined to go into details of the reorganization.
"This is very much an internal matter," he said. "This is up with higher headquarters right now and we're waiting to get the basic approval. Once we have the approval we will be going into implementation."
But another ISAF official confirmed that the amalgamation of public affairs with Information Operations and Psy Ops was part of the planned command restructure. This official, who also declined to be named, said the merger had caused considerable concern at higher levels within NATO which had challenged the order by the U.S. general.
"DECEPTION ACTIVITIES"
NATO policy recognizes there is an inherent clash of interests between its public affairs offices, whose job it is to issue press releases and answer media questions, and that of Information Operations and Psy Ops.
Information Operations advises on information designed to affect the will of the enemy, while Psy Ops includes so-called "black operations," or outright deception.
While Public Affairs and Information Operations, PA and Info Ops in military jargon, "are separate, but related functions," according to the official NATO policy document on public affairs, "PA is not an Info Ops discipline."
The new combined ISAF department will come under the command of an American one-star general reporting directly to McKiernan, an arrangement that is also against NATO policy, the NATO official said.
"While coordination is essential, the lines of authority will remain separate, the PA reporting directly to the commander. This is to maintain credibility of PA and to avoid creating a media or public perception that PA activities are coordinated by, or are directed by, Info Ops," the NATO policy document says.
"PA will have no role in planning or executing Info Ops, Psy Ops, or deception activities," it states.
The United States has 35,000 of the 65,000 foreign troops in Afghanistan, operating both under ISAF and a separate U.S.-led coalition operation, but both come under McKiernan's command.
Washington is already scheduled to send another 3,000 troops to arrive in the country in January and is now considering sending 20,000 more troops in the next 12 to 18 months, further tipping the numerical balance among ISAF forces.
"What we are seeing is a gradual increase of American influence in all areas of the war," the NATO official said. "Seeking to gain total control of the information flow from the campaign is just part of that."
