June 24, 2010 12:04 PM
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McChrystal's Frank Talk on Afghanistan
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Denmark's William Kvist escapes tackle from Mark van Bommel of the Netherlands during the Euro 2012 soccer championship Group B match between the Netherlands and Denmark in Kharkiv , Ukraine, Saturday, June 9, 2012. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader) (Matthias Schrader)
McChrystal knows the Taliban have been gaining ground, spreading into parts of the country where they've not been seen before. And he was not impressed when the soldiers and civilians who man one remote outpost assured him they are making slow steady progress.
"The question is not whether we're making progress. The question is whether we're making enough progress fast enough," McChrystal said.
He drew a graph showing the rate of progress he really needs. "What if our rate of progress is below that, but it's still up? So then people come visit, I come visit you, and every time I visit you, you say 'We're doing good. We're doing better. We made progress.' It doesn't matter, 'cause at the end of the day you lost. At some point you lost," he said.
His frustration with business as usual was palpable. "We could do good things in Afghanistan for the next 100 years and fail. Because we're doing a lot of good things and it just doesn't add up to success," McChrystal said.
In one video conference with the Pentagon, he complained about the months it takes just to get officers assigned to his staff when he's up against a deadline from the Secretary of Defense.
"The secretary talks in terms of 12 to 18 months to show a significant change and then we eat up two or three months just on sort of getting the tools out of the tool box. That really hurts," McChrystal explained during the briefing.
He relentlessly pounded away at the Pentagon bureaucracy. "The average organization, when someone asks when you want something, they pull out a calendar. But in a good organization they look at their watch and we really got to get that way," McChrystal said.
He also wants American convoys to stop their aggressive driving on Afghan streets.
"It's perceived by the people as arrogance. It's perceived by the people as not caring about, you know their right to use the road. And at the end of the day, it's their roads," he said.
"It sounds like you're trying to deprogram eight years of bad habits," Martin noted.
"Exactly," McChrystal agreed. "There's an awful lot of bad habits we've got to deprogram."
McChrystal's compulsion for shaking up the system even includes the flags outside his headquarters. They used to fly at half staff every time a soldier was killed. He ordered them raised.
"We had gotten to the point where the flags were at half mast all the time, and I believe that a force that's fighting a war can't spend all it's time looking back at what the costs have been. They've got to look ahead and they've got to have their confidence. And I thought it was important that the flags be up where they belong," McChrystal explained.
There's a war on. But a level of comfort has crept into life at headquarters, including a garden which has become a favorite hangout.
"You seem to think that life might be a little too soft around headquarters," Martin said.
"I think life is hard at the combat outposts, and anything that distracts us from supporting them in my mind is something that we shouldn't do," McChrystal replied.
Asked what he thinks of the garden were one can sip cappuccino in the shade, McChrystal told Martin he'd "Like to turn it into a rifle range."
McChrystal himself keeps a murderous schedule, up at 4:30 a.m. and out the door at five for his morning run through the maze of buildings and trailers that makes up his headquarters. This is his idea of leisure time.
Asked how many miles he thinks he covers during his runs, McChrystal said, "I do an hour. Yeah. And it's not as many miles as it used to be."
Copyright 2010 CBS. All rights reserved. "The question is not whether we're making progress. The question is whether we're making enough progress fast enough," McChrystal said.
He drew a graph showing the rate of progress he really needs. "What if our rate of progress is below that, but it's still up? So then people come visit, I come visit you, and every time I visit you, you say 'We're doing good. We're doing better. We made progress.' It doesn't matter, 'cause at the end of the day you lost. At some point you lost," he said.
His frustration with business as usual was palpable. "We could do good things in Afghanistan for the next 100 years and fail. Because we're doing a lot of good things and it just doesn't add up to success," McChrystal said.
In one video conference with the Pentagon, he complained about the months it takes just to get officers assigned to his staff when he's up against a deadline from the Secretary of Defense.
"The secretary talks in terms of 12 to 18 months to show a significant change and then we eat up two or three months just on sort of getting the tools out of the tool box. That really hurts," McChrystal explained during the briefing.
He relentlessly pounded away at the Pentagon bureaucracy. "The average organization, when someone asks when you want something, they pull out a calendar. But in a good organization they look at their watch and we really got to get that way," McChrystal said.
He also wants American convoys to stop their aggressive driving on Afghan streets.
"It's perceived by the people as arrogance. It's perceived by the people as not caring about, you know their right to use the road. And at the end of the day, it's their roads," he said.
"It sounds like you're trying to deprogram eight years of bad habits," Martin noted.
"Exactly," McChrystal agreed. "There's an awful lot of bad habits we've got to deprogram."
McChrystal's compulsion for shaking up the system even includes the flags outside his headquarters. They used to fly at half staff every time a soldier was killed. He ordered them raised.
"We had gotten to the point where the flags were at half mast all the time, and I believe that a force that's fighting a war can't spend all it's time looking back at what the costs have been. They've got to look ahead and they've got to have their confidence. And I thought it was important that the flags be up where they belong," McChrystal explained.
There's a war on. But a level of comfort has crept into life at headquarters, including a garden which has become a favorite hangout.
"You seem to think that life might be a little too soft around headquarters," Martin said.
"I think life is hard at the combat outposts, and anything that distracts us from supporting them in my mind is something that we shouldn't do," McChrystal replied.
Asked what he thinks of the garden were one can sip cappuccino in the shade, McChrystal told Martin he'd "Like to turn it into a rifle range."
McChrystal himself keeps a murderous schedule, up at 4:30 a.m. and out the door at five for his morning run through the maze of buildings and trailers that makes up his headquarters. This is his idea of leisure time.
Asked how many miles he thinks he covers during his runs, McChrystal said, "I do an hour. Yeah. And it's not as many miles as it used to be."
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