General McChrystal 60 Minutes Interview: Overwhelming US Firepower Not The Way Forward In Afghanistan (VIDEO)

America's top commander in Afghanistan, General Stanley McChrystal, warned that overwhelming firepower from the United States is not the way forward in winning the Afghan war because the damage done to civilians is ultimately detrimental to our strategic goals. Interviewed by David Martin of 60 Minutes, McChrystal said he was surprised at the levels of violence in some parts of the country:

Asked if things are better or worse than he expected since his arrival a few months ago, the general replies, "They're probably a little worse. I think that in some areas that the breadth of the violence, the geographic spread of violence, is a little more than I would have gathered."

Watch an excerpt from the interview below. The full segment can be seen this Sunday on 60 Minutes.

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Comments

[wordvarc]

NOW he's playing politics by demanding more troops despite outnumbering the Taliban 12 to 1.

The "war" in Afghanistan benefits only the MI companies and brass. Leave wannabe president McChrystal as commander and highlight his spring, summer, and fall claims of the effectiveness his magical special ops units in Afghanistan. Support our troops. Bring the boots home.

[delta7]

1. The Russians licked their wounds and had the guts to get out of Afghanistan.
1. AFGHANISTAN:
2. Mr. President: What in the world are we doing there and what is there to gain, besides practicing new weapon systems.
3. Afghans lived in their pre-historic life style for many hundreds of years. They hate us the "grate liberators" and want to be left alone: so be it!
4. Seeing the great examples of the deceit-based Iraq invasion and failure, no wonder they want us all out.
5. Is this another underlying oil scheme? (Ask Cheney).
6. And (god forbid) if we have spent the $ 10 B(+) PER MONTH x 8 years here at home, our economy would be booming.
WHEN DO WE EVER LEARN?
WHEN DO WE EVER LEARN?

[Mosby12]

This is Obama's war. He ratcheted it up and he campaigned on how it needed to be fought to win. You'all voted him in... did you think he was kidding about Afghanistan?

[wordvarc]

Yawn...

sorry your long term memory remembers only less than a year.

[ohjoe]

I think that the arrest of a variety of people for terrorist-related activities this week points out the real way to protect ourselves from terrorist attacks. Most of Europe has known that astute criminal investigation by their equivalent of the FBI is the best way to keep themselves safe.

In the article above it appears that McChrystal is making the argument that it dangerous for us to use the military to try to win "The War on Terror" in Afghanistan. I haven't seen that reflected in a lot if these comments.

Also, I can't help it: "all the women wear burqas" NO. "Camels and tents" NO. I don't believe they even have camels in Afghanistan and all the homes that were wiped out in the last big earthquake weren't made of canvas. How ignorant can people be? Stupid question, it's evidently more than I can stand.

[calijohn2]

The Soviet Union was down this path before us.
They had up to 104,000 troops at a time in a
Afghanistan over a 9 year period.
They incurred over 15,000 dead troops while the Afghanis
suffered over 1 million dead.
Are we ready for this kind of wholesale slaughter?
I sincerely hope not.

[cimbri]

That's right, cali. It's not a question of whether or not we can wreck their country and turn it into a parking lot, we can. It's not worth it for them or us. We will have to go house to house throughout the entire country, and they will kill us with a thousand cuts.

Move the war to the air where we have total supremacy and then we can cut them to pieces instead.

[Dosadi]

If only those darn bad guys had an air force, or a navy, or an army, then we could go head to head with them and end this.

[revhatchell]

and at the time we were helping the resistance­/insurgenc­e/terroris­ts.

[Dosadi]

Who else found Afghanistan not worth the effort? Ghengas Khan, Al the Great, and a host of others. You cannot win in Afghanistan because there is nothing to win. The people are split into hundreds of social groups making it impossible for our type of democracy to take hold. The people of Afghanistan live the way they have for centuries and are not really interested in coming into the 21st century. We are fighting an enemy that will never run out of recruits so we are in for a long battle. But we cannot kill everyone that does not like us. Our diplomatic core has to step up to the plate and make more friends instead of creating new enemies. We need to turn enemies into associates and finally into friends.

[realpolitic]

Didn't they have more troops than that even?

[sticksnstones]

The 2010 Federal Budget based on President Obama's budget presented to Congress :

57% ..... Military (all aspects)

6% .... Transportation

4% .... State and International Programs

4% .... Housing and Urban Development

4% .... Education

4% .... Other Agencies

3% .... Homeland Security

2% .... Energy

2% .... Agriculture

2% .... Justice

1% .... EPA

1% .... NASA

1% .... Commerce

1% .... Labor

1% .... Treasury

1% .... Interior

Does anyone else see the sheer insanity of this ??

[dans5843]

Time to bring our hero's home.

[BlueDog1]

The good General Petraeus will be here soon now that McCain and Lieberman have made comments.

You can hear in background the flushing of Healthcare down the drain, the good General Petraeus and his ginsel want a "standing" Army of 500,000 and 10 years to catch the SOB who killed our 3000 citizens.

So you guys get ready with the VISA card we need to go to China so we can support Patraeus.

simply amazing...­..........­.......

[Mosby12]

Yeah that's it.... blame Patreus... McChyrstal is OBAMA'S GUY!! or is he not longer the Commander-in-Chief. Amazing how there is no accountability in the liberal world the only ones accountable are the military and Republicans. ...

[Plebean]

Canada is supposed to be getting out of Afghanistan in 2011... we'll see

[BlueDog1]

Here we go again, it is time for our good General Petraeus to appear and play the next card. A report is produced, before we can get it to our president it is released to our man at the WaPo.

So the Afgan lemon suck report is released to (oh did anyone see FBI get involved?) public via WaPo prior to any discussions with Barrack.

Now McCain, Lieberman, etc, etc, and the rest can get there input into conversation prior to Patraeus and his man meeting with Barrack. The Pendagon people want an standing Army of 400 to 500 troops in Afganistand.

The sound you hear in the back ground is healthcare flushing down the drain and Petraeus and his boys are off and running for another ten years with our ViSA card getting punched by China.

What ever you do lets not catch that SOB who killed our 3000 American citizens 8 years ago, it is simply amazing...­..........­........

[brt929]

I think you read my mind BlueDog1

[BlueDog1]

one other item healthcare insurance companies are dancing in street....­..........­...

[GetACluepeople]

First rebuild New Orleans, Detroit could probably use some help as can a lot of American cities! Afghanistan is stuck in the 4th century and they like it, so leave it alone.

Last time I checked this country is a graveyard to failed military campaigns, why be the next?

I guess General McCoverup (remember Pat Tillman) needs to polish the resume before retiring to some board room or TV gig!

[cimbri]

I noticed their women still wear burqas. Have we really made much of a difference that would be worth our losses?

[Mosby12]

Uh huh... that's why we are fighting over there... so the woman wouldn't have to wear burqas. Are you able to breath with and IQ that low?

[bokiluis]

Of course he would say that, "war" is an addiction and we are enablers if we continue to support it.

[Hallucinocynic]

War isn't an addiction. It's a business, pure and simple. Sumerian sword, shield, and spear manufacturers were lobbying for armed conflict 5000 years ago!

The sad fact of life in 21st century America is that there are still large numbers of citizens whose wealth is based in the manufacture, AND expenditure, of weaponry. For these cretins, PEACE is a dirty word. As always, there are people who ride on the back of death, aggrandizing themselves from others' misfortune. These misanthropes, like Cheney, NEVER employ the tools of destruction, they just underwrite them and sit back to wait for the checks.

There'll always be another 'enemy' to attack or invade. And there will always be people who welcome those invasions - all for the worst reasons.

[SecretSister]

You are exactly right. The war lobbyists are a reality. The war profiteering in the Iraq war and Afghanistan war has been propagated by individuals who are making their fortunes off the blood of our soldiers and the treasure of the U.S. taxpayer.

The Generals should not be formulating or dictating the goals or policies in the wars any longer (as was done in the previous 8 years under Bush 43).

That is one major reason why I did not vote for a Republican in 2008.

[itsmyparty]

I wonder,just out of curiosity,if they can get everyone out of Afghanistan that they want out,and the Taliban simply move elsewhere--as they are already--what then?Another war?Think of all we could have built and done to make this country strong with that money.Wars don't make us strong.A healthy domestic economy not based on the needs of the military industrial complex might.

[TBH2009]

I fear that McChrystal's Rules of Engagement issue is about to become the next Afghanistan public relations crisis. Many pundits http://wp.me/pChUJ-3D see it as another opportunity connect the administration to questionable policies.

[Mosby12]

Lest you forget so quickly... McChrystal is Obama's man.... appointed by Obama so yes, if it doesn' go well, who do you want be accountable?

[bellrich]

I don’t think we have the hearts of the people of Afghanistan or the Taliban wouldn’t control two thirds of the country, it sounds like Vietnam all over again.
They tell us what they think will happen if we fail, but not what we gain if we “win”
We can’t afford Health Care or Education for our people, but it seem we have unlimited funds to wage war. I don’t think the gain is worth the waste of blood and money.

[AirForce Vet]

A great nation we are, but we have not mastered the art of humility. We often times present ourselves as arrogrant, pompus, grandiose, or pretentious people out of pride when a sense of humility would be sufficient. We often think too highly of ourselves when a touch of humility would present us in another light . Until we learn humility and most of all the practice of it, we will not win the hearts and minds of anyone, the Iraqis, the Afghani, and not even ourselves. What have we gained if we can’t win the hearts and minds of people, through humility? We can continue to build weapons of destruction and we can continue to waste treasure and human lives. We can destroy half the world, but until we have truly reached out and touched people through our underlying humility, we have gained nothing.

Some may say, “we are determined to win, we are determined to succeed.” I say, what will we gain and what will we lose? In the comment “we are determined to win, we are determined to succeed,” will our determination to win or succeed be based on our pride or our humility?

[zootliberal]

Bravo, from one Air Force Vet to another! Well said, if America could just learn and practice compassion and humility, so many of our foreign policy 'problems' would vanish. You cannot bomb people into liking you, we've tried this for much too long, it's amazing that no one seems to have noticed it doesn't work.