Afghan-War Falling Off The Cliff As Obama Accuses General McChrystals Of “Poor Judgment”

New York [RR] Kabul–According to New York Times report today, U.S. Led-NATO Allied forces is collapsing for some reason. According to New YorkTimes, Afghan war is falling off the cliff as Obama personally in a press conference accuses General McChrystals of “Poor Judgment” over his role in Rolling Stone interview some days ago. According to impeccable sources, General Mcchrystals talked down on Obama administration and his officials, around the world for mismanaging U.S. military engagement in Afghanistan and elsewhere Republicreport gathered.

Sources told RR that such remarks didn’t go down well with President Obama and there are rumors that McChrystals has written his resignation letter, at this critical time, no one is sure if Obama will accept his resignation with Afghan war losing steam, with allied forces membership conflicted, as U.S. Led-NATO forces appeared in disarray, as death toll has risen astronomically in recent months.   

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WASHINGTON — President Obama said his top commander in Afghanistan, Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, had used “poor judgment” and Pentagon officials said the general had prepared a letter of resignation, as he flew to Washington on Tuesday to find out whether he would be fired after a magazine article quoted him and his staff disparaging top members.

“I think it is clear that the article in which he and his team appeared showed poor judgment but I also want to make sure that I talk to him directly before I make a final judgment,” Mr. Obama said, speaking briefly to reporters at the White House in the afternoon. Whatever decision he makes, he said, would be in line with his central focus of what was best for the country and the war in Afghanistan.

Pentagon officials said General McChrystal had prepared a letter of resignation, which would be expected military practice in such a tense situation. But it remained unknown late Tuesday whether Mr. Obama would accept it.

That war effort is lagging, however, and the comments by General McChrystal illustrated the disarray and enmity among the president’s Afghanistan team, as well as the tensions between the president and the military, at a time when casualties are rising sharply and international support falling.

In the article, in the July 8-22 edition of Rolling Stone, General McChrystal or his aides spoke derisively of Vice President Biden, Ambassador Karl Eikenberry, National Security Adviser General James L. Jones, Richard C. Holbrooke, the special envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan, an unnamed minister in the French government, and even Mr. Obama himself. But in many ways, his comments expose similar remarks others inside the group have made about each other over the past year.

The criticism of the general’s public statements was swift.

The White House press secretary, Robert Gibbs, called the comments an “enormous mistake” and added that military parents need to know that “the structure where they’re sending their children is one that is capable and mature enough in prosecuting a war as important as Afghanistan.” He pointedly refused to say whether General McChrystal would keep his job.

Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates released a statement criticizing General McChrystal for “a significant mistake” and “poor judgment,” while Admiral Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, was described by a senior aide as “deeply disappointed” in the article and the comments it contained.

Regardless of whether General McChrystal’s resignation is accepted, Mr. Obama will be urging his Afghanistan staff to work together, Mr. Gibbs said. The president, he said, will say that “it is time for everyone involved to put away their petty disagreements, put aside egos, and get to the job at hand.”

But the release of the interview comes as violence in Afghanistan is rising sharply and several central planks of the president’s strategy to “disrupt, dismantle and defeat” the Taliban and Al Qaeda have stalled, his top advisers have continued to criticize each other to reporters and international allies alike, usually in private conversations, and almost always off the record.

“Yes, we do hear them disparage each other,” said a senior European diplomat who works closely with the United States on Afghanistan strategy. “It’s never good to hear that.” Added Bruce O. Riedel, a senior fellow at Brookings Institution who helped the administration formulate its initial Afghan policy: “This flap shows once again that his team is not pulling together, but is engaging in backbiting.”

The many conflicts engulfing the Afghanistan team include complaints from General Eikenberry about Mr. Holbrooke, whose relationship with the Afghan president, Hamid Karzai, went downhill last year after difficult meetings following the August elections.

The general apologized for his remarks, saying they were “a mistake reflecting poor judgment and should never have happened.”

In the article, one of General McChrystal’s aides is quoted as referring to the national security adviser, James L. Jones, as a “clown.”

A senior administration official said Mr. Obama was furious about the article, particularly with the suggestion that he was uninterested and unprepared to discuss the Afghanistan war after he took office.

The article, “The Runaway General,” quotes aides of General McChrystal saying that he was “pretty disappointed” by an Oval Office meeting with Mr. Obama, and that he found the president “uncomfortable and intimidated” during a Pentagon meeting with General McChrystal and several other generals.

The article does not mention any serious policy differences with Mr. Obama, who chose General McChrystal to take charge of a major escalation of American troops and equipment. And most of the critical remarks attributed to General McChrystal appear to come from his aides.

In his statement, General McChrystal said, “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.” The author of the article — Michael Hastings, a freelance journalist — appears to have been granted intimate access to General McChrystal’s inner circle. Most of the comments seem to have been uttered during unguarded moments, in places like bars and restaurants where the general and his aides gathered to unwind.

Like many in a new generation of senior officers, General McChrystal maintained a remarkably open policy with the news media, bringing them into secret briefings and on his helicopter as he traveled the country. Usually it worked in his favor; reporters gained insights into the general’s strategy and the challenges of the job.

This time, however, it did not. Duncan Boothby, a special assistant to General McChrystal who coordinated the article, resigned, aides said. Many of the offending remarks were picked up when General McChrystal and his team were grounded in Paris in early June by the ash cloud by the volcano in Iceland, they said.

“Everyone kind of relaxed,” an aide said.

A McChrystal aide is quoted saying of Mr. Holbrooke: “The Boss says he’s like a wounded animal. Holbrooke keeps hearing rumors that he’s going to be fired, so that makes him dangerous.”

On another occasion, General McChrystal is described as reacting with exasperation when he receives an e-mail message from Mr. Holbrooke. “Oh, not another e-mail from Holbrooke. I don’t even want to open it.”

The article also describes a conversation in which General McChrystal and an aide talk about Mr. Biden. Mr. Biden is known to have opposed the decision to escalate the war, preferring instead a slimmed-down plan focused on containing terrorism.

“Are you asking about Vice President Biden?” General McChrystal jokes.

“Biden?” suggests a top adviser. “Did you say ‘Bite me?’ ”

General McChrystal is also quoted making disdainful remarks about Mr. Eikenberry, the ambassador, with whom he has had sharp disagreements over the war. Last year, Mr. Eikenberry sent confidential cables to Washington opposing Mr. Obama’s decision to send more troops.

“He’s one that covers his flanks for the history books,” General McChrystal is quoted as saying. “Now, if we fail, they can say, ‘I told you so.’ ”

The article also describes a meeting in which a soldier vents his frustration over General McChrystal’s tightening of the rules governing the use of airstrikes against suspected insurgents. The soldier, Pfc. Jared Pautsch, is quoted telling General McChrystal that he is endangering the lives of soldiers by forcing them to be too restrained.

Private Pautsch is quoted as telling the general the Americans should just drop a “bomb on the place,” and asking, “What are we doing here?”

Senator John Kerry, chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, said early Tuesday in remarks broadcast on CNN that he had “enormous respect for General McChrystal” and warned against overreaction to the remarks. He added, however, that the general would have to “deal with” the fallout from his comments.

“My impression is that all of us would be best served by just backing off and staying cool and calm and not sort of succumbing to the normal Washington twitter,” Mr. Kerry said.

Indeed, the situation put both Mr. Obama and General McChrystal in a vise. As the commander in chief, Mr. Obama could decide to relieve General McChrystal of command, but if he did so, it seems difficult to imagine how his strategy for Afghanistan, now in midstream, could carry on. If General McChrystal keeps his job, however, it seems likely that his reputation — and therefore possibly his effectiveness — will be diminished.

Helene Cooper reported from Washington and Dexter Filkins from Kabul, Afghanistan. Reporting was contributed from Washington by Mark Landler, Jeff Zeleny, Thom Shanker and Brian Knowlton.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/23/world/asia/23mcchrystal.html?nl=us&emc=politicsemailema1

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