General Stanley McChrystal is being called on the White House carpet after a magazine article that was released this week quoted the general and his staff criticizing the Obama administration and its Afghanistan strategy. To discus Afghanistan, McChrystal and Obama meet regularly by videoconference. But after the Rolling Stone McChrystal profile broke, detailing the general’s disdain for his boss, Obama demanded to see him this time in person. This isn’t the very first time the general has talked bad about administration in public.
Obama contempt from McChrystal
In the article, General McChrystal and his staff talk about their contempt with various officials carrying out the administration’s Afghanistan war policy. As outlined by Fox News, the article in this week’s Rolling Stone quotes McChrystal making disparaging remarks about President Obama, mocking Vice President Joe Biden, feeling “betrayed” by U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan Karl Eikenberry, and also recalling how Obama looked “uncomfortable and intimidated” by a roomful of military officers. An aide to McChrystal also decides he wants to call National Security Adviser Jim Jones “a clown” who remains “stuck in 1985.”
McChrystal Rolling Stone fallout}
General McChrystal will attend a White House meeting with Biden and many of the other advisers whom McChrystal or his staff mocked in the article. The general has fired Duncan Boothby, who is the press aide who booked the McChrystal Rolling Stone interview. The Washington Post reports that the timing of the Rolling Stone article by freelance journalist Michael Hastings could hardly be worse. With little but bad news coming out of McChrystal’s Afghanistan war and increasing casualties, U.S. lawmakers are increasingly skeptical about the U.S. Afghanistan strategy. Meanwhile, the Associated Press reports that Afghan President Hamid Karzai strongly backs McChrystal in Afghanistan and hopes Obama doesn’t determine to replace him.
General McChrystal seems to do it again
General McChrystal’s Afghanistan remarks have veered off-message before. Last year following the general’s evaluations and recommendations for the Afghanistan war were made public, he gave a speech in London openly criticizing administration officials, vice president Joe Biden in particular, who disagreed with him. On that very same occasion McChrystal was called on the carpet of Air Force One in Copenhagen, where the president had traveled to speak about Chicago’s bid to host the Olympics. It was reported by the New York Times that General McChrystal has apologized for his remarks, saying the article was “a mistake reflecting poor judgment and should never have happened.”
Citations
Fox News
whitehouse.blogs.foxnews.com/2010/06/22/obama-summons-his-top-general-in-afghanistan-back-to-white-house-after-disparaging-remarks/
The Washington Post
washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/06/22/AR2010062200813_2.html?sid=ST2010062200900
New York Times
nytimes.com/2010/06/23/world/asia/23mcchrystal.html?hp
