Matt Taibbi of Rolling Stone blasts CBS’s foreign correspondent Lara Logan for criticizing Michael Hastings for reporting on General McChrystal’s truth telling on the sucky war in Afghanistan. Doesn’t Hastings know he’s supposed to play along and support the troops and keep quiet?

Speaker Nancy Pelosi has told the Huffington Post she expects a “serious drawdown” of U.S. troops from Afghanistan in the summer of 2011. The House Rules Committee has now approved an amendment for consideration on the war supplemental that will allow Speaker Pelosi to “put her money where her mouth is.”

David Petraeus’s didn’t put much stock in the president’s intention to hold the military command accountable for its failure in Afghanistan—and that earned him an instant rebuke from the White House. Now, that same Petraeus is in charge.

There is no “emergency” requiring the House to throw another $33 billion into our increasingly bloody and pointless occupation of Afghanistan before we all go off to celebrate the anniversary of our Declaration of Independence from foreign occupation.

Lost in the self-righteous scrum of negative opinion concerning Gen. Stanley McChrystal’s mouthing off to “Rolling Stone” was the fact that this was a very good day for freedom of the press.

It is hard to know if you are walking on thin ice. The ice is opaque, and the first indication that you are in trouble is when you hear the musical cracking under your feet. This can be the case with many things, including civilian control of the military. It is very hard to know when you are in good shape and when you are in danger until after the overt actions of a coup have been attempted.

This is why it is so critical that we have complete civilian control of our military. The danger that a large and incredibly well equipped military can present should never be forgotten or underestimated. This is why it is likely that today is going to be the very last day of military service for Gen. Stanly McCrhystal. His words and actions have gone beyond the pale on more than one occasion. He was strongly reprimanded for his inappropriate statements on Afghanistan policy before the president decided to increase troops there, and now the quotes in the new Rolling Stone article showing his and his command teams disdain for the civilian leadership mean it is time for him to go.

"Originally posted at Squarestate.net"

All of this has me thinking about the novel and movie 7 Days In May. If you have not seen this movie (with Burt Lancaster and Kurt Douglas no less!) then do yourself a favor and rent it. The plot revolves around a charismatic and hard-nosed general who plots a military coup after the President announces a treaty with the Soviets to destroy all nuclear missiles.

Lancaster’s character is convinced that he knows better than the president and “for the good of the nation” intends to remove him. Without giving away too much the plot is discovered by his aid and is brought to the attention of the president. This movie has one of the best closing speeches and final scenes of any I have ever seen it is really worth your while.

More important than Gen. McChrystal’s fate is the fate of the whole war policy. We need good journalism to tell us more what is really happening.

Behind the uproar over Gen. McChrystal is a basic problem: The war in Afghanistan can’t be won and shouldn’t be fought.

Rolling Stone’s Michael Hastings was very free with the use of unnamed sources throughout his entire profile of Gen. Stanley McChrystal. Why? And does this profile remind you of Admiral Fallon?

Panic within the US government and military over the dire state of affairs in Afghanistan continues to escalate. First, in response to a constant drumbeat of failures on the military front, we had the obvious planting of the “discovery” of one three trillion dollars worth of mineral wealth in Afghanistan. Then, General David Petraeus passed out at the beginning of his Senate testimony on Afghanistan, delaying the hearing by a day. Today, however, the panic has hit its highest level yet, as General Stanley McChrystal has been summoned to Washington. The reason for McChrystal’s hurried trip to Washington, however, completely misses the mark, as he is being brought in to defend an upcoming article in Rolling Stone rather than the strategic situation in Afghanistan.