The CBS investigative television series 60 Minutes has been on the air since 1968. It began it’s 42nd season on Sunday night. The series was created by producer Don Hewitt, who set 60 Minutes apart from other shows by utilizing a unique brand of reporter-centered investigation. This long running program has garnered numerous awards over the years and is held by many in the highest esteem in the area of fact-finding reporting.
The season opener covered three interesting stories. One story reported on the millions of dollars that are being made by a company from Indian who represent the merchandising of deceased celebrities. Another feature covered the investigation over the Bernard Madoff scam gone bust.
By far the most interesting feature story was the interview with General McChrystal, the commander of the American armed forces in Afghanistan. It is in this country that we face an ongoing eight year war in the Middle East, which America is literally fighting alone.
General McChrystal is the new commander in the Afghanistan theater, having been on the job just over two months. He spoke in depth about his new strategy of protecting the innocent people of the country and making that more of a priority than trying to traverse through the mountainous regions of the country where enemy forces lay hidden and almost impossible to locate.
He expressed how he was basically fed up with how the war was being run and offered that we still hadn’t learned from our mistakes from previous wars. His strategy is not to use overwhelming force and destroy any and everything in our military’s path, be it civilian or enemy. His plan is to work smarter with better communications and with an emphasis on working with the Afghanistan people instead of trying to win the war despite them.
I found his approach refreshing. This was a man who made it clear that minor progress simply wasn’t good enough and that the tactics used in the past not producing the results desired and likely never would. He was very direct with government officials about the bureaucracy that was slowing down the efficiency of his forces. Watch the video and see what you think.
I think it is clear that we have a highly competent commander in General McChrystal one President Obama, the Joint Chiefs as well as the American public need to get behind and support wholeheartedly.
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