President Obama Dismisses Stanley McChrystal as Top Commander in Afghanistan

(The Washington Post) President Obama yesterday dismissed General Stanley McChrystal after concluding that his military chief in Afghanistan had badly damaged the chain of command and could no longer work effectively with the civilian leadership at a crucial moment of the war. White House officials said Obama's decision, made over a tense 40 hours, pitted his desire to retain a talented general who designed the Afghan strategy against the importance of preserving the authority of the commander-in-chief. The President will turn over the Afghan command to General David Petraeus, keeping his war strategy intact. The announcement ended McChrystal's 34-year Army career less than two days after the publication of a Rolling Stone article featuring disparaging remarks by the general and his fiercely loyal staff about some of Obama's senior civilian advisers, including Vice President Joe Biden, who argued against McChrystal's strategy last year. Petraeus will take over control of the International Security Assistance forces in Afghanistan, which comprises nearly 100,000 U.S. troops and 40,000 forces from other countries. Petraeus presently heads Central Command, which oversees wars in both Iraq and Afghanistan.

There have been some radio talk show hosts, including Michael Savage, that have criticized President Obama firing McChrystal. Obama has that right to fire McChrystal. Could Obama have reprimanded McChrystal and still kept him on? He could, but that's Obama's choice. Obama wanted to use this as an opportunity to appear that he's strong and not weak. He's proved his point, I guess. Gen. McChrystal was completely wrong in his willingness to grant an interview with Michael Hastings, who conducted the story for the Rolling Stone. Michael Hastings is a left-winger. Why would McChrystal or his staff consent to granting an interview and dispersing the kind of information he did to someone like Hastings? It's foolish. A general that's under the command of the President isn't supposed to share what he thinks about the President nor his staff while serving as general in a war. If he wanted to reveal to the public what he thinks about some of the President's staff, he should've resigned then he could speak his mind. You can't trust someone like Hastings.

Some Republicans believe that David Petraeus will be a great replacement for General Stanley McChrystal. General Petraeus was the General who wrote the manual on counter-insurgency. The changing of the guard isn't what's going to solve the problem. The problem is in the strategy and the rules of engagement. This month has been a high casualty month for U.S. troops. There needs to be an overhaul in strategy. The present strategy that McChrystal has adopted hasn't worked. If the U.S. is going to continue fighting in Afghanistan, then they need to unleash air power and bomb Afghanistan into an oblivion. That's my opinion. If the military brass doesn't have the will to utilize overwhelming force, then our troops need to exit Afghanistan. Placing a new general in power isn't going to solve anything if our war strategy in Afghanistan isn't changed. We've been in Afghanistan for almost nine years. It's either time we change strategy to win or we exit. We can't prop up Afghanistan forever. If they don't have the will to fight for their country, then we're wasting our time keeping our troops in Afghanistan.