Top General In Afghan War: US Envoy Betrayed Me

[Richard]

Whoa!

Richard

Top General In Afghan War: US Envoy Betrayed Me
AP, 21 June 2010

The top U.S. war commander in Afghanistan told an interviewer he felt betrayed by the man the White House chose to be his diplomatic partner, Ambassador Karl Eikenberry.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100622/...rystal_enemies

[Basenshukai]

Soap opera drama. Nothing to see here. Moving along.

[LongWire]

Not sure why he thought that they would cut him any slack.......But that's why I don't make the big bucks........
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http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/world/us_...a/10372558.stm

The top US commander in Afghanistan has apologised for his role in a magazine article that mocks senior Obama administration officials and diplomats.

Gen Stanley McChrystal said the article in Rolling Stone showed "poor judgement" and a lack of integrity.

In the article Gen McChrystal said he felt betrayed by US ambassador to Kabul, Karl Eikenberry.

The general's aides mock Vice-President Joe Biden and say Gen McChrystal was "disappointed" in President Obama.

The apology came as a US congressional report said the US military had been giving tens of millions of dollars to Afghan security firms who were channelling the money to warlords.

'Clown'
The Rolling Stone article - The Runaway General - is due out on Friday but Gen McChrystal has quickly sought to limit the damage.

He said in a statement on Tuesday: "I extend my sincerest apology for this profile.

"It was a mistake reflecting poor judgement and should never have happened."

He adds: "Throughout my career, I have lived by the principles of personal honour and professional integrity. What is reflected in this article falls far short of that standard.

"I have enormous respect and admiration for President Obama and his national security team and for the civilian leaders and troops fighting this war and I remain committed to ensuring its successful outcome."

Nato spokesman James Appathurai said on Tuesday that the article was "unfortunate" but that the organisation's Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen had "full confidence in General McChrystal as the Nato commander and in his strategy".

The BBC's Quentin Sommerville in northern Afghanistan says the article highlights the long-suspected divisions between the US military and administration officials.

One of the main targets of the article appears to be Mr Eikenberry.

Gen McChrystal says he felt "betrayed" by the ambassador during the White House debate on troop requests for Afghanistan.

The general says: "I like Karl, I've known him for years, but they'd never said anything like that to us before.

"Here's one that covers his flank for the history books. Now if we fail, they can say, 'I told you so'."

Gen McChrystal also appears to joke in response to a question about the vice-president.

"Are you asking about Vice-President Biden?" McChrystal asks. 'Who's that?"

An aide then says: "Biden? Did you say: Bite Me?"

Another aide refers to a key Oval Office meeting with the president a year ago.

The aide says it was "a 10-minute photo op", adding: "Obama clearly didn't know anything about him, who he was... he didn't seem very engaged. The boss was pretty disappointed."

Gen McChrystal himself says: "I found that time painful. I was selling an unsellable position."

Another aide refers to national security adviser, James Jones, as a "clown stuck in 1985".

Of an e-mail from US special envoy to Pakistan and Afghanistan Richard Holbrooke, Gen McChrystal says: "Oh, not another e-mail from Holbrooke... I don't even want to open it."

Last year's Afghan strategy review by the new president was detailed and drawn out, with Gen McChrystal finally getting an additional 30,000 US troops from Mr Obama.

Analysts say Gen McChrystal disagreed with the pledge to start bringing troops home in July 2011.

The Rolling Stone article reflects the fraught nature of the diplomatic process in Afghanistan.

On Monday, it was reported that the UK's most senior diplomat in Afghanistan, special envoy Sir Sherard Cowper-Coles, was taking extended leave amid reports of clashes with senior Nato and US officials.

Meanwhile the US congressional report says trucks carrying supplies to US troops allegedly pay Afghan security firms to ensure their safe passage in dangerous areas.

The convoys are attacked if payments are not made, it is alleged.

[Bill Harsey]

The best quotes may be yet to come in the Rolling Stone thing and if true are well said.

Then there's that pesky protocol thing...

[Richard]

Originally Posted by Basenshukai

Soap opera drama. Nothing to see here. Moving along.

Maybe not.

An Obama administration official says the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan has been summoned to Washington to explain his controversial comments about colleagues in a recent interview.

The official says Gen. Stanley McChrystal has been directed to attend the monthly White House meeting on Afghanistan and Pakistan in person Wednesday rather than over a secure video teleconference, so he can discuss his comments with President Barack Obama and top Pentagon officials.

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2010...er=rss&emc=rss

This would be an opportunity for a GO to resign on principle, retire, and become an ardent critic of an administration's policies.

And so it goes...

Richard

[Paslode]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...200813_pf.html

Gen. Stanley McChrystal coming to Washington to explain anti-administration comments

By Ernesto Londoño
Washington Post Foreign Service
Tuesday, June 22, 2010; 8:18 AM

KABUL -- The top U.S. general in Afghanistan was summoned to Washington for a White House meeting after apologizing Tuesday for flippant and dismissive remarks about top Obama administration officials involved in Afghanistan policy.

The remarks in an article in this week's in Rolling Stone magazine are certain to increase tension between the White House and Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal.

The profile of McChrystal, , titled the "Runaway General," also raises fresh questions about the judgment and leadership style of the commander Obama appointed last year in an effort to turn around a worsening conflict.

McChrystal and some of his senior advisors are quoted criticizing top administration officials, at times in starkly derisive terms. An anonymous McChrystal aide is quoted calling national security adviser James Jones a "clown," who remains "stuck in 1985."

Referring to Richard Holbrooke, Obama's senior envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan, one McChrystal aide is quoted saying: "The Boss says he's like a wounded animal. Holbrooke keeps hearing rumors that he's going to get fired, so that makes him dangerous."

On one occasion, McChrystal appears to react with exasperation when he receives an e-mail from Holbrooke, saying, "Oh, not another e-mail from Holbrooke. I don't even want to read it."

U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan Karl Eikenberry, a retired three-star general, isn't spared. Referring to a leaked cable from Eikenberry that expressed concerns about the trustworthiness of Afghan President Hamid Karzai, McChrystal is quoted as having said: "Here's one that covers his flank for the history books. Now if we fail, they can say, 'I told you so.'"

A U.S. embassy spokeswoman said she had no immediate comment on the piece.

The story also features an exchange in which McChrystal and some of his aides appear to mock Vice President Biden, who opposed McChrystal's troop surge recommendation last year and instead urged instead for a more focused emphasis on counter-terrorism operations.

"Are you asking me about Vice President Biden?" McChrystal asks the profile's reporter a at one point, laughing. "Who's that?"

"Biden?" an unnamed aide is quoted as saying. "Did you say Bite me?"

Lt. Col. Joseph Breasseale, a U.S. military spokesman, said McChrystal called Biden and other senior administration officials Tuesday morning in reference to the article. "After these discussions, he decided to travel to the U.S. for a meeting," the spokesman said in an e-mail.

A senior administration official in Washington said McChrystal had been summoned to the White House to explain his remarks. The general will attend a regular meeting on Afghan-Pakistan strategy scheduled for Wednesday. Normally, he would have participated in the session via videoconference.

The magazine hits newsstands Friday and could be posted online earlier in the week. The Washington Post received an advance copy of the article from its author, Michael Hastings, a freelance journalist who has written for the Post.

"I extend my sincerest apology for this profile," McChrystal said in a statement issued Tuesday morning. "It was a mistake reflecting poor judgment and it should have never happened."

The timing of the piece could hardly be worse. Amid a flurry of bad news in Afghanistan and a sharp rise in NATO casualties, U.S. lawmakers and senior officials from NATO allied countries are asking increasingly sharp questions about the U.S.-led war strategy.

Dutch and Canadian troops are scheduled to pull out within the next year. And the White House has said it will start drawing down U.S. forces next July.

The magazine story shows that McChrystal is also facing criticism from some of his own troops who have grown frustrated with new rules that force commanders be extraordinarily judicious in using lethal force.

A few weeks ago, according to the magazine, the general traveled to a small outpost in Kandahar Province, in southern Afghanistan, to meet with a unit of soldiers reeling from the loss of a comrade, 23-year-old Cpl. Michael Ingram.

The corporal was killed in a booby-trapped house that some of the unit's commanders had unsuccessfully sought permission to blow up.

One soldier at the outpost showed Hastings, who was traveling with the general, a written directive instructing troops to "patrol only in areas that you are reasonably certain that you will not have to defend yourself with lethal force."

During a tense meeting with Ingram's platoon, one sergeant tells McChrystal: "Sir, some of the guys here, sir, think we're losing, sir."

McChrystal has championed a counterinsurgency strategy that prioritizes protecting the population as a means to marginalize and ultimately defeat the insurgency. Because new rules sharply restrict the circumstances under which air strikes and other lethal operations that have resulted in civilian casualties can be conducted, some soldiers say the strategy has left them more exposed.

June is on track to be the deadliest month for NATO troops in Afghanistan since the war began nearly nine years ago. At least 63 NATO troops have been killed so far this month, including 10 who died Monday in a helicopter crash and a series of attacks.

In his statement, McChrystal says he has "enormous respect and admiration for President Obama and his national security team."

"Throughout my career, I have lived by the principles of personal honor and professional integrity," the general said. "What is reflected in this article falls far short of that standard."

[dr. mabuse]

*

[Richard]

...his golf excursions ( during the oil leak at that ).

And that's relative to the price of Lung Ching in China how?

Richard's $.02

[Utah Bob]

Interview with the top rated hard news publication Rolling Stone? Sure why not? How about a music video too?
Brilliant!

WASHINGTON - The top U.S. commander in Afghanistan has been summoned to Washington to explain derogatory comments about President Barack Obama and his colleagues, administration officials said Tuesday.

The move came hours after General Stanley McChrystal apologized for comments by his aides insulting some of President Barack Obama's closest advisers in an article to be published in Rolling Stone magazine.

In the magazine profile, his aides are quoted mocking Vice President Joe Biden and Richard Holbrooke, the special U.S. representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Story continues below ↓advertisement | your ad here

The first victim in the growing controversy was the Pentagon's PR official who set up the interview with McChrystal. NBC reported that Duncan Boothby, a civilian member of the general's public relations team was "asked to resign."

According to administration officials, McChrystal was ordered to attend the monthly White House meeting on Afghanistan and Pakistan in person Wednesday rather than over a secure video teleconference. He'll be expected to explain his comments to Obama and top Pentagon officials, these officials said.

President Obama was described as "furious" about the remarks while the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm. Mike Mullen told McChrystal of his "deep disappointment" in a conversation late Monday, a spokesman said.


Video
‘Poor judgment’
June 22: Sen. John Kerry wonders about his ability to have a relationship with Obama and the rest of the National Security staff.

The Daily Rundown
Sen. John Kerry, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said Tuesday that he had confidence on McChrystal's ability as a general. However, he said the issue was whether the article would impact his ability to have a relationship with Obama and the rest of the National Security staff.

Kerry, speaking on MSNBC's "Daily Rundown," described the remarks in the article as a "mistake," and "poor judgement" by the general and some of his staff. He declined to say whether McChrystal should step down.

In Kabul, an Afghan government spokesman said President Hamid Karzai backed the general. "The president strongly supports General McChrystal and his strategy in Afghanistan and believes he is the best commander the United States has sent to Afghanistan over the last nine years," Waheed Omer told Reuters.

Entire article is here.

[dr. mabuse]

*

[wch84]

I'm mystified by the General and his staff. Poor SA in regard to Rolling Stone, perhaps? I subscribed to Rolling Stone a few years ago, being a music lover and all. Needless to say, I canceled my subscription after the first year. Every issue saw a new article bashing President Bush, the military, etc. Very little music coverage and way too much politics for a magazine supposedly covering the music industry.

Rolling Stone is the absolute worst media source that General McCrystal and his staff could have granted access to. By the accounts I've read about McCrystal and his discipline, I have a hard time believing this was a mistake. We're a year out from the self-imposed drawdown date that the POTUS dictated. (Warning: speculation ahead) Perhaps McCrystal sees the writing on the wall and wanted a way out?

[LongWire]

Originally Posted by wch84

Perhaps McCrystal sees the writing on the wall and wanted a way out?

I'm guessing that you don't know the General very well, or at least don't understand how General's operate. In the very least being fired by the POTUS is not something, that I would think, that General McChrystal would want on his resume. One doesn't work so long and hard as someone like Gen McChrystal, just to throw it all away and blame it all on the media. Regardless of anyone's take on the Politics, Gen McChrystal would fall on his own sword before going out of his way to get fired like this.

[Utah Bob]

Originally Posted by Richard

Maybe not.

This would be an opportunity for a GO to resign on principle, retire, and become an ardent critic of an administration's policies.

And so it goes...

Richard

Exactly what I was thinking. Walk into the Oval Office resignation in hand.

[The Reaper]

Originally Posted by Utah Bob

Exactly what I was thinking. Walk into the Oval Office resignation in hand.

I suspect that he has already done that.

It will be up to the POTUS whether to accept it or not.

TR

[Richard]

The oil leak referral was an askance view at grumblings over the BP exec at the yacht races while oil is gushing, but, IIRC, P'BO has plenty of time for golf.

Sorry - I missed the sarcasm in your original statement - I think the lack of pink font and use of an angry emoticon threw me.

I wasn't aware the topic lanes were narrowing so much around here.

They aren't - that's just a perception on your part in this instance.

Richard