18:37 Okay, I think Stuart made the point. You know these guys are they're befuddled by everything So let me just run through a couple short clips of the president's announcement yesterday So now and and the words are very interesting when you hear them so first of all it was only like an eight-minute statement I'd like to point out that Rolling Stone magazine has done some absolutely amazing articles on Goldman Sachs, on the financial meltdown and the administration completely ignores that. I mean we're not going to look at an article like that in Rolling Stone oh no, hey you know that can't be true! That's just Rolling Stone magazine but when it comes to McChrystal then of course you know we gotta accept his resignation or fire him which one is it? Well the president explains The conduct represented in the recently published article does not meet the standard that should be set by a commanding general
19:28 Which I'd like to see what the standards are by the way. You know, what is the standard of a guy who's meant to go out and kill people? Yeah you gotta think that guys gonna be a little off-the-wall, a little Team America. Fuck yeah! It undermines the civilian control of the military that is at the core of our democratic system and it erodes the trust that's necessary for our team to work together. So I like this, it erodes the trust for our team but he's not talking about our troops he is talking about the political team about the civilians running the show and i thought that was an interesting there was no need really from them put in his speech to say hey what that guy saying is messing us up here in Washington Not quite sure why thats in there. We must achieve our objectives in Afghanistan
20:15 So what exactly are those objectives in Afghanistan? Well, the president laid it out quite clearly and said he has two responsibilities. Two main responsibilities! First I have a responsibility to the extraordinary men and women who are fighting this war and to the democratic institutions that i've been elected to lead Do you feel that should be first John or maybe does he have a responsibility for people of America first or is just to the troops first Well, that's a good question. I don't know really what the second one? We'll get to in a moment. I've got no greater honor than serving as commander-in-chief of our men and women in uniform and it is my duty to ensure that no diversion complicates the vital mission they are carrying out That includes adherence to a strict code of conduct The strength and greatness of our military is rooted in fact this code applies equally to newly enlisted privates
21:16 and of the general officer who commands them. So again, I'd like to see the strict code of conduct and what that means no one's questioning that of course That allows us to come together as one That is part of the reason why America has the finest fighting force in history of the world FUCK YEAH! It is also true... By the way so that was TRUE! That was true it is also true Democracy depends upon institutions better stronger than individuals That includes strict adherence to the military chain of command and... Isn't that almost a contradiction? It's like it's about the whole team and not just about one guy, so it's okay. And this felt contradictory to me. ...for civilian control over that chain of command. That's why as commander-in-chief I believe this decision is necessary to hold ourselves... Now he... This is where he says this decision So he's now saying he fired him
22:14 Instead of I accepted his resignation. He's basically saying this decision to get this guy out of here was necessary accountable two standards that are at the core of our democracy second Second, I have a responsibility to do what is whatever is necessary To succeed in Afghanistan and in our broader effort to disrupt dismantle and defeat al-qaeda Okay So now we know what the mission is it is to disrupt dismantle and and something else defeat defeat the Al Qaeda okay I get it most people think there's like 20 Al-Qaeda in this is what so great I believe that this mission demands unity of effort across our alliance and across my national security team
23:02 And I don't think we can sustain that unity of effort. He's talking about NATO, the alliance. Yeah there are no they're all bailing out. Of course they are! They're full crap and achieve our objectives in Afghanistan without making this change That too has guided my decision So his decision right so that's his responsibilities not to you and I John Not to the American public No it is to the success of the mission in Afghanistan What exactly are we doing again? We're getting rid of those 20 guys, those 20 uh... Well not- The President answers the question. Make no mistake we have- John! make i want to make a little making mistakes no mistake we have a clear goal here it is we are going to break the taliban's momentum okay well you're gonna be all over where they come into the big time telling him and this is what so great work at so confused now but he'll help me out do it again that we are going to build afghan capacity okay capacity or go to relentlessly apply pressure on al-qaeda and its leadership
24:03 strengthening the ability of both Afghanistan and Pakistan to do the same. You can take that to the bank! I'm confused, first we were gonna kill Al-Qaeda then we're gonna pressure them then we're gonna like stop the Taliban huh? You know, he doesn't really say anything in this speech. He just kind of throws words out there it's funny I wonder how many of his speeches are kinda you know if we deconstructed them word by word they're just kind of gobbledygook that's kinda pieced together in some meaningless way. Well it would be nice... It sounds good because you know, it's almost as though his style of delivery is the medium is the message, the McLuhan idea where it's not really what he's saying, it's just a word that says make no mistake! Oh shit I don't want to make a mistake. You know these kind of throws in these words like that? He has that whole Martin Luther King cadence from time to time
25:00 and you know this is without the tremolo yeah is it tremolo or tremolo I don't know so not a musician so anyway i love the fact that uh Petraeus is being brought in who of course has a chip implanted now we know why the guy fainted the other day they were ready but he pushed the button by like oh shit no no what do we need to get your elbow off the button we need the guy yes hang in there this guy is amazing he's been shot He's had yet. Yeah during a training exercise, and it was Bill Frist who operated on him which I think was interesting I think it's senator frist oh yeah right? Yeah is that interesting yeah well This is barely a pretty good doctor well he implanted the device of course we've got the Manchurian candidate now It doesn't not fit together nicely then he broke his pelvis
25:50 during a training exercise. So the guy is, you know when he's had heart problems... I don't know why! Talk about a guy who should have retired. And then he's lugging around all that dead weight with all those medals and i'd like to remind you that they still have not closed the investigation from 2007 of these thousands of weapons that disappeared in Iraq under his watch AKs and all kinds of handguns armored vehicles, plastic explosives army uniforms that were all just disappeared. I mean this guy is if you want a guy to do whatever you tell him to, Petraeus is the one!
26:33 Petraeus is the guy and I think that you know McChrystal he just, I have to say... He's a patriot. I have the sense that he didn't want to be there from the beginning No but i think McChrystal is actually a true patriot in the sense of a military man and you know I come from a long line of military people Do you notice that he looks like Tigger from Winnie The Pooh? No it didn't cross my mind Yeah he does No, I missed that one. So um so i think uh you know that we're now we're in for the long haul the real long haul You know it's...I think the next steps will be there's going to be this period of assessment that Petraeus is gonna say We need 40 000 more troops
27:21 You know, now we can get it. The president as you know also has a 30 billion dollar outstanding request with Congress for more funds for the war I think this is up for debate I still believe that there's a fight right now whether we should just get out because i think thats what congress wants or are going to continue this in some Vietnam style where they just keep ramping up until some Dick Nixon shows up and gets us out And he's dead So um Fascinating though, fascinating turn of events and I love how it distracted from a million other things going on. That was pretty much my favorite part of it just so many other things happened