Gen. McChrystal: WikiLeaks a Sad Situation

President Obama meets with Stanley A. McChrystal, who was then the new U.S. Commander for Afghanistan, in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington on May 19, 2009

/ White House/Pete Souza

Since being dismissed following a Rolling Stone article for disparaging remarks aimed at civilian national security leadership by him and his aides, Gen. Stanley McChrystal has been pursuing an academic mission.

He is teaching a leadership course at Yale and on Friday discussed the Afghan war and leadership at the Daily Beast's Innovators Summit in New Orleans.

McChrystal spoke just as the substance of 400,000 documents on the Iraq war leaked by WikiLeaks were outlined in the press Friday, citing torture, summary executions and civilian casualties.

"I think it's sad," McChrystal said, responding to a question about WikiLeaks. "The decision to leak classified information is something that is illegal, and individuals are making judgments about threats and information they are not qualified to make. There is a level of responsibility toward our people that needs to be balanced with a right or need to know. It's likely that a leak of that information could cause the death of our own people or some of our allies."

He was asked by interviewer Frances Townsend, a former assistant to President George W. Bush for homeland security and counterterrorism, about the impact of media on leadership. The amount of scrutiny and the speed at which information is passed has "changed leadership in ways we don't comprehend yet," McChrystal said. "Information can go will go viral before additional facts are gained and people take a breath."

He added that the media doesn't rise to the level of responsibility it needs to and that people discount certain positions and reporting because they assume it has a certain bias.

He did not comment on the Rolling Stone article that led to his dismissal by President Obama and his retirement from the military.

McChrystal was asked how his military experiences translate to leadership in the private sector.

"Most hardest things are not military," McChrystal said. He described decisions as testing values, judgment and sometimes patience and maturity. "You have to get to the core of a set of beliefs and have the skills to impart them," he said.

He gave an example of leadership in describing a strike against terrorist leader that failed at first, but they were able to convince senior leaders take the "political risk" to give his team another chance at the target. "The ability to go back up in an organization requires you to look internally to determine why you failed," McChrystal said.

McChyrstal was asked to shed some light on the killing in 2006 of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, a major insurgent leader who was responsible for dozens of bombings and kidnappings in Iraq.

The night after Zarqawi was killed McChyrstal said he gave out one medal, and it was to an intelligence analyst. "The guy never went out on ops, but he pulled the team together. It was a much police-like as military, building an understanding of the man, the leader, and his organization. We attacked the center of organization over and over until we understood the organization...it was not a one day lightening strike....we developed a stronger and stornger understanding until we had a tighter noose."

He attributed some of the success by the U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan to "becoming a better team."

"The real innovation is the U.S. government and NATO pulling together, bringing intelligence tighter and tighter....It's not so much technical as cultural," McChrystal said.

He was asked about cuts in defense spending. "If you have to decrease military spending, one thing to protect is the people," McChyrstal said, even at the expense of the amount of hardware and technology. "Talent and effectiveness relies on people....It takes a generation to replace that talent."

[documemts]

Guess he feels its OK to destroy evidence and conspire to cover-up the friendly fire death of Pat Tillman. This guy had no business heading up the war in Afghanistan.

[AustinHook]

The military is all about courage. It should include courage to tell the truth.

[xmissile]

Agreed. A sader situation was posthumously awarding the Silver Star to this guy and telling his family that he was a war hero only to have them find out later that he was shot in the head three time by our own forces. Add that to ridiculing his boss in public and you have one dishonorable man.

[imnho]

The general has a point. There may well be to much information that is classified. The problem with the leaking is that sooner or latter they will comproimse either a major intellegence capabilty or a human asset. In the case of the human asset that could mean the persons death.

[AustinHook]

The problem about not leaking is that sooner or later the public will be beguiled into thinking war is OK, and that will include a lot or persons deaths.

[rockcutr]

Toy soldiers with lots of tin badges and no security within their ranks, might consider shutting their pie hole. The arrogant reply of civilians reading these documents not having the ability to discern is arrogant and condecending. The general has way too much starch in his shorts. He is most certainly chaffing. This is more about his lack of control than a leak of oh so truthfull and truth telling documents.

wonder why these things even exist. paper trails tell on ya. horrible security to have such a thing.

This may or may not assist the enemy. Don't see how. Unless of course the man with starch in his shorts has a political opinion. Wait, he may not have an opinion that the president did not give him. I believe the general has broken ranks. He should send his sorryass directly to the stockade to make an honorable example of himself for the terrible lack of ability to actually contain, rule and dominate his F troops.

[AustinHook]

I get the feeling that McCrystal did what he thought was best, responding to the culture around him. I see that he did have a bit of conscience, even if he succumbed to the lying culture he was immersed in. As to his firing, I think that was one of the most unjust reasons for dismissal I have seen in a long while. His private comments do show a certain awareness of the absurdity of his place in history. I think maybe he was on the verge of coming to understand it. He was in over his head but he kept on trying. I have a certain sympathy for the chap, and that much less for Obama after McCrystal's firing.

[omnibus66]

I am sure that Hermann Goering would also gave been upset if details of SS activities had been made public during the Third Reich. All sorts of scummy vermin hide from the light.

[underdogus007]

I say waterboard the truth out of Gen. Stanley McChrystal.

[Jaylah54]

Just like his mentor, Cheney. Running off at the mouth about stuff that has absolutely nothing to do with him. Given the fact that he was officially relieved of his last command, with more than sufficient reason, perhaps the smartest thing for him to do would be to just shut up. But, just like his mentor Cheney, he'll find that impossible to do. Both of them had their chance and they blew it.

[Reality-Checker]

General McChrystal's sadness is easy to identify with, but even greater issues loom over our heads, since it is clear that secrets are harder to keep when wars last so long, or mission definitions change. The whole premise of Wikileaks is that no other enforcement authority is around to keep the Defense Department honest. News media faces censorship, but internal leaks to the internet are effective and powerful.

Warmongering is not popular when citizens stop and talk about fiscal responsibility. It is perceived as wasteful.

The Cold War was over in 1989, but little headway has been made to re-organize government and scale back military spending. Fighting a war against an actual nation with a unified command and control authority is one thing, but fighting against a band of pirates, thugs, or terrorists is another. Fighting organized crime is a high priority for many countries with ailing economies, but you don't fight it by going deep into debt, or creating more economic hardship for the citizens you are trying to protect.

[Scimajor]

I would think this is a perfect job for USCYBERCOM. It would be a pretty trivial operation to shut the site down through a variety of means.

[AustinHook]

Just what we need. More money spent on an entirely hopeless task. Unless you want to take out the entire Internet you will never get more than a few moments of satisfaction when the information will just pop up somewhere else. Sure, maybe you could keep the US voting public in the dark a few weeks longer, by some twisted process, but the rest of the world would know. You belong working for the Chinese, and their hopeless great firewall.

Scimajor, I put you in charge of the neo-Index Librorum Prohibitorum, and laugh as you make more popular whatever it is that you would prohibit!

[stn_sage]

Yes! It's very sad! That, the American public wasn't told that there are a fair number of it's soldiers over in Iraq and Afghanistan murdering anything 'that moves', regardless, of whether it's an enemy soldier or not; including, women, children, and old people, all of whom, are unarmed!

[Scimajor]

We got exactly what our tax dollars are paying for, mindless killing machines that will do anything that they are ordered to do. Soldiers are taut not to think for themselves and to follow orders blindly. I guess the moral is "Be careful what you ask for".

[Simifanene]

George Bush, and Dick Cheney have been accused of war crimes today. It's your duty Mr. President to order a congresional investigation to prove or disprove the charges for the sake of our flag. Our honor is at stake. As a loyal American Vet who want's all terrorist in chains I ask our President to investigate these allegations for the sake of our flag and in the name of all who have died, been tortured or worse. Our principles are great and if any American is part of this they need to be prosecuted. No man is above the law in America. Torture and war crimes are against are law. I or you would be prosecuted for these crimes. Whom ever is involved in this must be brought to justice by a court of his peer's. If not then every law in America has no meaning. Justice for some is not justice. Justice for all means even the rich, the powerful or even the President is accountable to the law. If not our law is unjust and tyranical. We would then be what the enemy cry's out. We're not that and Mr. President, you must order a congressional investigation to protect are legal system, our flag and everything we stand for.*********************************************************************I agree with a heavy heart.