Obama Fires Top General Without Even a Phone Call

[Wehrwolfen]

Obama Fires Top General Without Even a Phone Call​

By DANIEL HALPER
January 25, 2013

President Barack Obama fired General James Mattis, the head of Central Command, without even calling the general to let him know he was being replaced.

"I am told that General Mattis was travelling and in a meeting when an aide passed him a note telling him that the Pentagon had announced his replacement as head of Central Command. It was news to him -- he hadn't received a phone call or a heads-up from anyone at the Pentagon or the White House," Thomas E. Ricks reports.

In another post, Ricks says Mattis was fired because:

Pentagon insiders say that he rubbed civilian officials the wrong way -- not because he went all "mad dog," which is his public image, and the view at the White House, but rather because he pushed the civilians so hard on considering the second- and third-order consequences of military action against Iran. Some of those questions apparently were uncomfortable. Like, what do you do with Iran once the nuclear issue is resolved and it remains a foe? What do you do if Iran then develops conventional capabilities that could make it hazardous for U.S. Navy ships to operate in the Persian Gulf? He kept saying, "And then what?"

[Excerpt]

Read more:
Obama Fires Top General Without Even a Phone Call | The Weekly Standard

 

[OohPooPahDoo]

Obama Fires Top General Without Even a Phone Call

Boo fucking who, who gives a shit? He's the President, he doesn't have to call after he fucks you if he doesn't want to.

 

[meson]

The Weekly Standard, now there's a real credible neo-con source!

But let's say the story is true, why would you give prior notice to someone you are about to fire?

 

[CrusaderFrank]

Obama's black, so he's historic. (am I allowed to say that?) Courtesy is for non-historic Presidents

 

[OohPooPahDoo]

Obama's black, so he's historic. Courtesy is for non-historic Presidents

Whining is for the right.

 

[Dont Taz Me Bro]

Obama Fires Top General Without Even a Phone Call

Boo fucking who, who gives a shit? He's the President, he doesn't have to call after he fucks you if he doesn't want to.

True, but if Bush did it you would have created this thread instead of the OP.

 

[OohPooPahDoo]

Obama Fires Top General Without Even a Phone Call

Boo fucking who, who gives a shit? He's the President, he doesn't have to call after he fucks you if he doesn't want to.

True, but if Bush did it you would have created this thread instead of the OP.

Prove it.

 

[ScreamingEagle]

BO wants to be surrounded by nothing but "yes men"...

 

[Dont Taz Me Bro]

Obama's black, so he's historic. Courtesy is for non-historic Presidents

Whining is for the right.

You're a right winger?

 

[Dont Taz Me Bro]

BO wants to be surrounded by nothing but "yes men"...

They all do

 

[PratchettFan]

Do you understand how the chain of command works? It would inappropriate for the president to call a commander to tell him he was fired. Its likely he wasn't even involved in the decision.

 

[techieny]

Do you understand how the chain of command works? It would inappropriate for the president to call a commander to tell him he was fired. Its likely he wasn't even involved in the decision.

bullshit!!!

 

[Care4all]

history....

President Truman's relief of General Douglas MacArthur - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

http://voices.yahoo.com/cbs-again-caves-bush-fires-general-batiste-339572.html

 

[Care4all]

So this guy was saying we should NOT go to war with Iran due to all the other things that would occur from such a move, and he was fired for it and the weekly standard is defending the general who obviously does not want to go to war with Iran? I realize I have not read the full article and this assumption is just from the clip in the op....BUT if I have deciphered this correctly.....THAT seems ODD....odd for Obama's team being against him for being overly cautious and odd that the folks at the weekly standard, the PNAC group, would be supportive of a general that appears not to be "war happy".

 

[Dont Taz Me Bro]

So this guy was saying we should NOT go to war with Iran due to all the other things that would occur from such a move, and he was fired for it and the weekly standard is defending the general who obviously does not want to go to war with Iran? I realize I have not read the full article and this assumption is just from the clip in the op....BUT if I have deciphered this correctly.....THAT seems ODD....odd for Obama's team being against him for being overly cautious and odd that the folks at the weekly standard, the PNAC group, would be supportive of a general that appears not to be "war happy".

Why do you find it odd that Obama would be against a general proposing caution towards war with Iran when Obama is as much a war monger as Bush was?

 

[Care4all]

So this guy was saying we should NOT go to war with Iran due to all the other things that would occur from such a move, and he was fired for it and the weekly standard is defending the general who obviously does not want to go to war with Iran? I realize I have not read the full article and this assumption is just from the clip in the op....BUT if I have deciphered this correctly.....THAT seems ODD....odd for Obama's team being against him for being overly cautious and odd that the folks at the weekly standard, the PNAC group, would be supportive of a general that appears not to be "war happy".

Why do you find it odd that Obama would be against a general proposing caution towards war with Iran when Obama is as much a war monger as Bush was?

I disagree.

I greatly appreciate your offer to allow us to comment.
What you describe in your email doesn't at all resemble the rigorous, open NSC process I've been a part of here at the White House. The role of the NSC is to coordinate the interagency and facilitate an all of government process and discussion to ensure each agency has input into national security policy. General Mattis has been a critical part of those discussions about the CENTCOM region, and it's completely inaccurate to say there was any effort to prevent him from airing his views. I'd note that General Mattis prepares a weekly report for the Chairman and SecDef on everything that's happening in his AOR. Tom makes sure that report is delivered to the President each week in full.
With respect to Iran policy, Tom [Donilon] worked directly with CENTCOM's leadership, in particular General Mattis and General Allen, to put together our force posture in the region. Without getting into detail, there has obviously been extensive contingency planning related to Iran and the region, and there has been a policy process that has been deliberately structured to allow for assumptions to be challenged and hard questions to be asked at the highest levels of government.
More broadly speaking, many of DOD's top leaders have said that the process Tom lead to formulate out defense strategy was the most robust, open and inclusive conversation they've been a part of.
To quote Secretary Panetta: "And in my experience, this has been an unprecedented process, to have the President of the United States participate in discussions involving the development of a defense strategy, and to spend time with our service chiefs and spend time with our combatant commanders to get their views. It's truly unprecedented."
Chairman Dempsey: "This strategy emerges from a deeply collaborative process. We sought out and took insights from within and from outside the Department of Defense, to include from the intelligence community and other governmental departments. We weighed facts and assessments. We challenged every assumption. We considered a wide range of recommendations and counter-arguments. I can assure you that the steps we have taken to arrive at this strategy involved all of this and much more. This strategy also benefited from an exceptional amount of attention by our senior military and civilian leadership. On multiple occasions, we held all-day and multi-day discussions with service chiefs and combatant commanders. The service chiefs, who are charged with developing the force for the strategy, were heard early and often. The combatant commanders, charged with executing the strategy, all weighed in time and time again. And we were all afforded extraordinary access to both the president and the secretary of defense."
The bottom line is that we are extraordinarily grateful to General Mattis for his patriotism and his service. He is a critical part of our team, and we look forward to his continued counsel in the months ahead.
​

The ouster of Mattis: Some follow-up details and a White House response | The Best Defense

 

[Dugdale_Jukes]

BO wants to be surrounded by nothing but "yes men"...

What about the filthy god damned scum, Junebug Bush?

Name his "no" men?

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.

 

[LoneLaugher]

Obama Fires Top General Without Even a Phone Call

Boo fucking who, who gives a shit? He's the President, he doesn't have to call after he fucks you if he doesn't want to.

True, but if Bush did it you would have created this thread instead of the OP.

Witness deflection in base form.






Oh....and.....BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOPSH!

 

[Dugdale_Jukes]

Obama is commander in chief. Period.

While generals are well within their rights to push back (see, Korea, Gulf War, Yugoslavia), commanders in chief are well within their rights to fire generals (see, Roosevelt, Truman, Obama); further, generals publishing their individual political/foreign policy views WITHOUT PRIOR APPROVAL from the commander in chief violate their oath by undermining the chain of command. At that rank the offense is a serious one; violators should be locked up in Leavenworth.

 

[nitroz]

Obama can do that if he wanted to.

Just another republican OP who wants to make some bad noise, blaming obama.