Oliver Stone: Petraeus Appointment “Shows A Complete Breakdown In The Military”

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by Steve Krakauer | 9:02 am, June 25th, 2010

» 23 comments

Oliver Stone was a guest on CNN’s John King, USA yesterday, ahead of his new documentary, South of the Border, which comes out today and focuses on how great Hugo Chavez and other South American leaders are.

King asked for his take on Gen. Stanley McChrystal‘s ouster and Gen. David Petraeus‘s appointment, and shockingly Stone had a very Oliver Stone take on it.

Basically, according to Stone, this whole week (Rolling Stone article, Gen. Petraeus) is just symptomatic of the completely failing war in Afghanistan. “That’s what happens when it starts to fall apart,” he said. “This is the cracks.”

Specifically about Gen. Petraeus, Stone says this “shows a complete breakdown in the military to me.” Here’s why:

Because the military is not based on one man, a leader, an ego, or anything like that. The idea is this guy can’t do the job, the next guy steps in. But you don’t promote down. It’s like if Eisenhower were to lead a division in WWII after he’s lead D-Day. So you don’t do that. There’s something wrong in the military and I say there’s a big crack.

Also, apparently Oliver Stone has a different interpretation of our foreign policy strategy. “How would you like to be an Afghani or an Iraqi,” he said. “You see American soldiers there, and we don’t ever ask what they’re thinking. Seems to me they don’t want us there.” (That’s they way it seems to him at least.)

Here’s a longer clip, that also addresses why Venezuelan elections are “cleaner than Florida in 2000″:

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CNN, John King, John King USA, Oliver Stone

zepfan81

I don’t think it’s a sign of break down in the military. Seems they’re doing fine considering. I think it’s a sign of the love affair the Washington elite have with Patraeus. There are more than a few generals that could handle this.
errxn

We can all now rest easier at night, comfortable in the knowledge that noted military expert Oliver Stone is hard at work on the case for us.
Caryson

Stone probably would be more comfortable with Hugo Chavez running the US Military.

Why does anyone really care what this guy has to say?
paulmdoro

“Why does anyone really care what this guy has to say?”

If it is related to film, then I’m interested. The guy is a whack job but he has made some great movies.
lazzzlo

Afghanistan is a military quagmire…easy to defend and difficult to attack and hold.
8 or 9 years later, we should leave. Nobody has been able to conquer that area and hold it historically.
We can’t force Karzai to “be like us”, tribal poppy production is even better.

The Taliban still exist…use the drones instead of our troops.

It is time to leave. I dislike Oliver Stone and all his conspiracies but our presence in Afghanistan is a broken record.
felixw

CNN could interview a general who actually led a military campaign. But, hey, Oliver Stone, made a movie about war, didn’t he? So in a world in which images are more important than reality, Mr. Stone becomes a respected military strategist.
Puter Boi

OK…I will ask the obvious question:

Stone says: ““How would you like to be an Afghani or an Iraqi,” he said. “You see American soldiers there, and we don’t ever ask what they’re thinking. Seems to me they don’t want us there.”

How does Oliver Stone know what people are thinking…or what they are asking each other…whether it be the military or the Afghans or the Iraqis?

As we all know…Miss Cleo went out of business….so I’m just wondering…
paulmdoro

Stone may be presumptuous, but one of the first lessons I remember from Catholic grade school is “walk a mile in another person’s shoes.” Seems to me we haven’t been able to win hearts and minds over there.
Puter Boi

I went to a Catholic school too….

Our principal always said he “Would walk a mile for a camel”

Don’t ask….
paulmdoro

Hmm. Interesting. I think I won’t ask.
notsofast

Oliver, Hiltler was democratically elected and we know the rest of the story. Stone is as benighted and as naive as John Reed who so sophomorically embraced the communists revolution in 1917 in his hagiography “Ten days that Shook The World.”

But Stone is right when he says many in the military agree with McChrystal.
TfT

Next step for CNN is to hire Stone as their foreign military advisor? He would fit right in with the disgraced democrat governor.

Can CNN get any worse?
paulmdoro

Disgraced ex-presidential advisers and the like have had no trouble finding work at other networks.
Dandee

I am waiting patiently to hear the complete story of McChrystal and Petraeus. There is something we are not being told about this firing and hiring. Another thing, I really would like to know why this president is tending to things that do not matter, rather than taking care of the things that are very important. He seems to be flying everywhere, talking all the time, getting more TV opt time telling more lies and NEVER getting around to doing anything to help our country. Does he really want to help us? Sometime many wonder.
paulmdoro

Really I mean all he does is clear brush and work 40 hours a week and walk Barney and ride his bike. Oh, wait….
notsofast

Paul, you are a great BHO shill.

Obama during oil spill — golf, parties, photo-ops… and more golf! (photos)
Posted by Kevin Kristy Headlines, Latest News, The O Spill May 28, 2010

By The Numbers
Rounds of golf: 8 – 4/23, 4/24, 5/8, 5/15, 5/16, 5/22, 6/13, 6/19
States visited before stepping foot in Louisiana: 6 – NC, NY, IL, CA, IA, MO
Concerts: 2 – 6/2 (McCartney), 6/6 (Kelly Clarkson)
Comedy shows: 2 – 5/1 (Leno), 6/6 (George Lopez)
Vacations: 2 – 4/23-4/25 (Asheville, NC), 5/28-5/31 (Chicago)
lazzzlo

What say we just make the leaders of Iraq and Afghanistan responsible for their own democratic processes and boogie out of both countries in the next 9 months?

Simple questions to deal with.
marcus.lewis

Its not a breakdown of the military, its just someone that the public knows about. The news media have been so poorly covering our wars that we don’t even know who the commanding generals are. With that said, I think that Odierno should take up the spot in Afghanistan. I have tremendous respect for that dude, and think that his soldiers really look up to him.
lazzzlo

marcus.lewis said:
Its not a breakdown of the military, its just someone that the public knows about. The news media have been so poorly covering our wars that we don’t even know who the commanding generals are. With that said, I think that Odierno should take up the spot in Afghanistan. I have tremendous respect for that dude, and think that his soldiers really look up to him.

There’s a fair point.
jmonteith

Does anybody really care what Oliver Stone ‘s opinion on anything is?
akrimediaite

Hmmm . . . Venezuela’s elections cleaner than Florida in 2000? Funny, my nephew-in-law (in his late 20s) had to flee Venezuela as almost a decade ago because he was targeted for death once word spread that he had the temerity to say he had voted against Chavez. A local librarian where I am was the neighbor of a dentist who was killed by thugs after he had expressed his opposition to Chavez openly. A group of the dentist’s neighbors called the police who arrived within half an hour of the dentist’s murder, and the neighbors provided detailed descriptions of the young men who had murdered the dentist and their vehicle, and the police told them that there was no point in looking for the young men or their vehicle, so to go back inside. Oh, yeah, the same things happened in Florida in 2000.
LowOnProzac

Oliver Stone is a pathetic no-talent. His best film, “Platoon” was mildly entertaining, but flawed. He’s never made anything worth sitting through since. His political ideas border on lunacy. He will be forgotten as a minor footnote after his final (hopefully soon) attempt at film making.
Latin2

Why not ask Fidel Castro or Hugo Chavez about our military?