The Runaway General

Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, commander of NATO’s International Security Rosetta Stone Assistance Force and U.S. Forces-Afghanistan, works on board a Lockheed C-130 Hercules aircraft between Battlefield Circulation missions.U.S. Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Mark O’Donald/NATO This article appears in RS 1108/1109 from July 8-22, 2010, on newsstands Friday, June 25.Howd I get screwed into going to this dinner?" demands Gen. Stanley McChrystal. Its a Thursday night in mid-April, and the commander of all U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan is sitting in a four-star suite at the H ocirc;tel Westminster in Paris. Hes in France to sell his new war strategy to our NATO allies to keep up the fiction, in essence, that we actually have allies. Since McChrystal took over a year ago, the Afghan war has become the exclusive property of the United States. Opposition to the war has already toppled Cheap Rosetta Stone V3 the Dutch government, forced the resignation ofGermanys president and sparked both Canada and the Netherlands to announce the withdrawal of their 4,500 troops. McChrystal is in Paris to keep the French, who have lost more than 40 soldiers in Afghanistan, from going all wobbly on him."The dinner comes with the position, sir," says his chief of staff, Col. Charlie Flynn.McChrystal turns sharply in his chair."Hey, Charlie," he asks, "does this come with the position?"McChrystal gives him the middle finger.Hastings on McChrystal: To Fire, or Not to Fire?The general stands and looks around the suite that his traveling staff of 10 has converted into a full-scale operations center. The tables are crowded with silver Panasonic Toughbooks, and blue cables crisscross the hotels thick carpet, hooked up to satellite dishes to provide Rosetta Stone Arabic encrypted phone and e-mail communications. Dressed in off-the-rack civilian casual blue tie, button-down shirt, dress slacks McChrystal is way out of his comfort zone. Paris, as one of his advisers says, is the "most anti-McChrystal city you can imagine." The general hates fancy restaurants, rejecting any place with candles on the tables as too "Gucci." He prefers Bud Light Lime (his favorite beer) to Bordeaux, Talladega Nights(his favorite movie) to Jean-Luc Godard. Besides, the public eye has never been a place where McChrystal felt comfortable: Before President Obama put him in charge of the war in Afghanistan, he spent five years running the Pentagons most secretive black ops.This article appeared in theJuly 8-22, 2010issue of Rosetta Stone. The issue is available in theonline archive."Whats the Cheap Rosetta Stone V3 update on the Kandahar bombing?" McChrystal asks Flynn.

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