Introductions

Welcome to News Shots, a blog in which I will be commenting on various news articles from around the world. My name is Sion and I am a widely traveled and experienced commentator and long time observer of world events. I hope you enjoy this blog, whether you agree with my opinions or not, and will make it a frequent stop in your web journeys.

Today I would like to put down some thought inspired by an article from the Washington Post entitled "Obama stresses no discord with Petraeus on board" which records President Obama's continuing efforts to cool down the political ruckus caused by the firing of Gen. McChrystal and the appointment of Gen. Petraeus to his position. I must admit that my feelings regarding the President and his various policies have been mixed, but I have enjoyed watching him bring the military to heel as it were. For a long time now, the military has gotten pretty much anything it wanted regardless of whether or not it was actually needed, and seemed to have forgotten that it is the civilian elected government that determines its mission and purpose. That stress has always existed; sometime with the civilian end too strong, sometimes with the military end too strong. As Commander in Chief, President Obama has set a very clear mission of stabilizing the situation on the ground in current conflict zones, prepare local military and security, and withdrawing, all to a very specific timetable. This is a disciplined approach that the military heads, unfortunately, had become unaccustomed to. McChrystal made the mistake of not only failing to keep that timetable to complete the new missions assigned but openly disparaged his Commander in Chief's ability to set an agenda for the military. That being the case, President Obama had little choice but to replace him. In fact, he would have proven himself a weak commander had he failed to do so. I hope that this trend will return an attitude of discipline to the ranks of the military command, and a balance between civilian and military concerns.