"The Emperor's General" - President Obama and the Whitewash of Gen. McChrystal’s Role in the Cover-up of Pat Tillman's Friendly-Fire Death

“THE EMPEROR‟S GENERAL”

President Barack Obama and the Whitewash of General Stanley

McChrystal‟s Role in the Cover

-

Up of Pat Tillman‟s Friendly

-Fire Death

Guy Montag @ feralfirefighter.blogspot.comJune 22, 2010 [Last Updated 1-29-11]

Patrick Tillman, Sr. at Pat Tillman‘s Memorial Service, May 2004

President Obama salutes ROTC graduates at Arizona State University, May 2009 President Obama meets with Gen. McChrystal at the White House, May 2009.

―… nothing is ever going to heal the wounds inflicted on the Tillman Family … while I have nothing but respect for the Tillma

n

Family… their personal grief should not be a veto on the nomination of the man [General McChrystal] the president, the Secret

ary of

Defense, and General Petraeus all feel gives the United States … the best chance of victory in Afghanistan … These are seriou

s

questions and are more important than either the death of Pat Tillman or the alleged abuse of detainees.‖

--

CNAS Fellow Andrew Exum, ―Confirm Him‖ (Abu Muqawama, June 2

nd

2009)

―I found myself awash with a sense of injustice that I could not define. Or perhaps it was merely that I was young. I had n

ever seen

with such clarity that … courage could destroy one man while flight could make another man king.‖

-- Senator James Webb,

―The Emperor‘s General‖ (1999)

THE EMPEROR‘S GENERAL

1

FOREWORD

On May 11, 2009, at the urging of Joint Chief of Staff Admiral Mike Mullen and Secretary of DefenseRobert Gates, President Obama fired Gen. McKiernan from his command of the Afghan War. To replacehim, President Obama nominated General Stanley McChrystal who had commanded Joint SpecialOperations Command (JSOC) from 2003 to 2008. President Obama had never met McChrystal. However, Ifind it difficult to believe that no one warned him that McC

hrystal had been involved with the Army‘s cover

-

up of Pat Tillman‘s friendly

-fire death in Afghanistan in 2004.Ironically, a couple of days later, on May 13

th

, I noticed that President Obama gave the commencementaddress for Arizona State University ins

ide Sun Devil Stadium without once mentioning Pat Tillman‘s name

.I assumed that

President Obama didn‘t want to risk raising the issue of McChrystal‘s

role by mentioning PatTillman at the very stadium in which he had once played (Bob Young, a sportswriter for The ArizonaRepublic, was the only journalist who mentioned this connection).In September 2009, I wrote a one-

page piece on Obama‘s ―Big Time Fumble‖

for my binder ―Lies BorneOut by Facts, If Not the Truth‖.

But, I had always wanted to further describe

President Obama‘s role.

Inearly June 2010, I began by reviewing newspaper and magazine articles.I discovered on the day following

McChrystal‘s nomination

, on May 12

th

, military leaders had urgedPresident Obama to back-pedal on his April 23

rd

decision to allow the court-ordered release of photosshowing detainee abuse at facilities other than Abu Gharaib. Presumably, some of the photos showed abuseby JSOC forces u

nder McChrystal‘s command at Camp Nama

. The photo release would have led todifficulties with his Senate confirmation (

Esquire

magazine also mentioned this connection).Anticipating they would lose their court appeal, the White House worked with the Senate to draft a bill toblock the release of the detainee photos by changing the language of the Freedom of Information Act.On May 20

th

,

the ―

Detainee Photographic Records Protection Act

‖

was introduced and passed by the Senate thenext day by unanimous consent (this bill was finally signed into law by President Obama on October 28,2009). Although Glenn Gree

nwald railed against President Obama‘s actions

, he failed to make theconnection between

McChrystal‘s nomina

tion,

Obama‘s abrupt back

-pedaling on the release of the photos,

the introduction of the ―McChrystal Protection Act‖, and McChrystal‘s

pending Senate confirmation hearing.After a strictly

pro forma

June 2, 2009 Senate Armed Services confirmation hearing [

see ―Did They TeachYou How to Lie Yet?‖ and ―The [Untold] Tillman Story], McChrystal was confirmed by the Senate byunanimous consent on June 10. 2009 (despite Senator Feingold‘s supposed ―opposition‖ to McChrystal‘s

nomination).

Note:

I‘ve updated

EG

by describing the ―

Detainee Photographic Records Protection Act,

‖

SenatorFeingold

‘s ―opposition‖ to McChrystal, and added Bill Gertz‘s piece describing the Senate ―holds.‖

THE EMPEROR‘S GENERAL

2

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page #:

Executive Summary

: ―The Emperor‘s General‖

4

―Who the Hell is Stanley McChrystal?‖

11May 11, 2009: President Obama Nominates Gen. McChrystal As Afghan War Commander 14May 12, 2009: President Obama Back-Pedals on Release of Torture Photos 15

May 13, 2009: President‘s Obama‘s

―Big

-Time Fumble

‖ at Sun Devil Stadium

18

May 21, 2009: Senate Passes ―Detainee Photographic Records Protection Act‖

22

June 2, 2009: Gen. McChrystal‘s June 200

9

―Pro

-

Forma‖