Here are the reasons why President Barack Obama had to fire Gen. Stanley McChrystal:
1) Respect.
The general’s remarks to a Rolling Stone reporter showed lack of respect for the president, the vice president, the national security adviser, and the president’s diplomatic team in Afghanistan.
Even worse, it showed a lack of respect for the troops — soldiers and service personnel on the ground in Afghanistan. Did the general ever think about them and their respect for the chain of command before he indulged himself in contempt? Did he ever think about their morale and his responsibility to them?
If he did, he did not think long and hard enough.
For lack of respect the general had to be fired.
2) Discipline.
To succeed, any organization needs a certain degree of discipline. That must come from the top. We need to succeed in Afghanistan. That is, we need to catch some anti-U.S. terrorists and disrupt their organization, stabilize Afghanistan, and Pakistan, and then leave it to our allies in both places, withdrawing our troops and leaving money and humanitarian aid behind.
Success cannot be achieved without discipline.
The military cannot function without discipline.
For lack of discipline and the lack of discipline among his staff, who also spouted off, the general had to be fired.
3) Judgment.
Getting drunk with your staff on a bus and trashing your colleagues and superiors to a kid with a tape recorder in his hand is as clear a case of bad judgment as you could ask for.
The general’s frat-boy behavior with his staff is also, by itself, shocking.
You need good judgment to lead, especially to lead soldiers. We need Eisenhower and Marshall, not Rush Limbaugh and Don Rickles.
A person is entitled to his private thoughts, but what in the world makes a commanding general give an interview to anyone, let alone a chest-thumping rant of an interview?
And what makes him feel he is entitled to scrutinize his commander-in-chief?
For his poor judgment, the general had to be fired.
4) Civilian control.
In our system, the military answers to an elected, civilian head of state.
The military is not a nation unto itself. It is not a law unto itself.
No general is bigger than the presidency — not a president, but the presidency.
That goes to the heart of our Constitution and our democratic republic.
Political generals are dangerous in democracy.
Arrogant generals are a danger to our Constitution and our troops.
Harry Truman affirmed this principle when he fired Douglas MacArthur, whom Truman and most of America thought to be brilliant.
And McChrystal is no Mac-Arthur.
In the final analysis, civilian control matters more than brilliance.
No man is indispensable. No general can be.
A good rule for presidents is to ask what Harry Truman would do.
Another is to ask what Abe Lincoln would do.
We have an objective and historical answer in both cases.
When a general places himself above the presidency, his troops, and the law, he must be dispatched.
Keith C. Burris is editorial page editor of the Journal Inquirer in Manchester.
