Someone smarter than I once told me that generals don't like saying "no" to things, as they will look like they are responsible for the failure if it was the wrong decision. Instead of owning up to their decisions, they just "ask for more information" repeatedly until either the staff surrenders, it dies, or they move on to a different job and it's someone else's decision to make. Not sure if that's the case, but it sure makes a lot of strange behavior make sense.