“Stanley McChrystal” on The Daily Caller

Of the many interesting narratives swirling around the Obama/McChrystal saga, the least explored to date— less than 24 hours in—the subtleties in messaging are worth noting. (more)

President Obama exerted a welcome amount of executive leadership this past week as he dismissed Gen. Stanley McChrystal following the revelation of inappropriate comments offered by McChrystal and his staff in an interview with Rolling Stone magazine. Excerpts from the Rolling Stone article demonstrate an impermissible lack of judgment on the part of McChrystal and his staff and the subsequent actions taken by the president were both appropriate and justified. Unfortunately, this recent example of executive leadership belies the uncertainty with which the American public has come to view Obama’s credibility as both leader of the free world and overseer of a nation struggling through myriad domestic crises. (more)

As military operations intensify with the summer heat, another fiasco emerges in President Barack Obama’s Afghanistan campaign. With a new strategy unfolding, the timing could not be worse. Public criticism by Gen. Stanley McChrystal and his advisers of the White House constituted insubordination. Within his prerogative as commander-in-chief of the armed forces, the president accordingly dismissed the general as head of operations. Personal insults aside, Team McChrystal’s criticisms are fairly accurate. However, it naively chose the wrong forum for expression and paid a price. (more)

LONDON (AP) — America’s allies in the fight to stabilize Afghanistan are hoping that the ouster of Stanley McChrystal as commander of international forces there still leaves the general’s strategy intact, officials and analysts said Wednesday. (more)

President Obama relieved Gen. Stanley McChrystal of his command of the war in Afghanistan Wednesday because of insubordinate remarks by him and his aides in a Rolling Stone article published earlier this week. (more)

So should he stay or go, be fired or forced to resign? Because all commissioned officers serve at the pleasure of the president, Obama has every right to fire General Stanley McChrystal, either for apparent insubordination or over the bad judgment for which the general has already apologized. Little question there: No wartime commander in his right mind should have granted any reporter a solid month of apparently unlimited access to him and (even worse) to his personal staff. If he’s feeling charitable, Obama could just bust McChrystal back to three stars – maybe throwing in the additional duty of performing KP on the weekends for the next 90 days. (more)

Rolling Stone magazine published this week a controversial article entitled “The Runaway General,” that has created quite the buzz over the past 24 hours. Gen. Stanley McChrystal, commander of International Security Assistance Forces (ISAF) in Afghanistan, was profiled in the piece and, to his detriment, made several mistakes. Now, he is being called to the White House to explain the circumstances surrounding the article. In a critical juncture in the war, the president called his most senior commander overseeing 94,000 American troops to most likely reprimand him or ask for his resignation. (more)

WASHINGTON (AP) — A senior U.S. military official in Afghanistan tells The Associated Press that Gen. Stanley McChrystal doesn’t know whether he’ll keep his job when he appears at the White House on Wednesday. (more)

To most people who follow developments in Afghanistan, it was clear that building a viable Afghan state would take more troops, more money, and more patience than the United States and its international partners could ever commit. These long-standing reservations were only intensified last November, when U.S. President Barack Obama announced plans for a 30,000-troop surge that would not only pacify population centers and train Afghan security forces, but also begin to wind down by July 2011—within 18 months of escalation. (more)

In a radical restructuring of its military command in southern Afghanistan, NATO said on Monday it had split the country’s most violent region in half in a bid to improve security by focusing on smaller geographical areas. (more)

The Nato commander in Afghanistan says a military operation to drive militants out of Kandahar will move at a slower pace than planned. (more)

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan — International troops opened fire on a bus carrying Afghan civilians Monday, killing four people, officials said, setting off anti-American protests in a key southern city where coalition forces hope to rally the public for a coming offensive against the Taliban. (more)

The White House, the Pentagon and Congress fear the surge. Not the recent shipment of a few troops to Gen. Stanley McChrystal, but the surge of angry American voters in November. Not only are those voters afraid that the Obama administration and the Democrat-led Congress will bankrupt the nation, they are also impatient with the endless wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. So how will President Obama and his congressional cronies survive the coming November tsunami? Simple. Declare victory and get out of the Near East. Retreat from Afghanistan will be well underway before November this year, and the Stars and Stripes will be on a fast freight out of Iraq before the U.S. presidential election in 2012. (more)

The business of politicians is getting re-elected, and business is bad for President Obama and his cronies in congress. Failing domestic policies and two endless wars have White House and Pentagon spin doctors working overtime, especially on Afghanistan and recent “victories” over the Taliban. But the inconvenient truth is that there is no Taliban, and the victories belong to Pakistan. (more)

Arizona’s Republican primary may not be until Aug. 24, but as March dawns in the Grand Canyon state former Congressman J.D. Hayworth is working hard to win voter support in his uphill conservative primary challenge to Sen. John McCain. (more)

President Barack Obama spent most of 2009 trying to restore American legitimacy, and his efforts were met with some success, especially among our European allies.  However, it will take more than a good reputation to tackle the problems of 2010.  In the coming year, President Obama will have to deal with a flagging economy, two major wars and myriad other smaller military engagements, and the ever-present global problems of nuclear proliferation and climate change. (more)

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. military is openly telegraphing a plan to clear out an insurgent haven in what may be the first major battle since President Barack Obama’s expansion of the Afghanistan war, hoping that all but the most hardcore Taliban will sit out the fight. (more)

WASHINGTON (AP) — The top U.S. commander in Afghanistan says he believes the U.S. troop surge in Afghanistan is turning the tide against the Taliban. (more)

PASADENA, Calif. (AP) — Diane Sawyer is in Afghanistan, her first overseas trip as anchor of ABC’s “World News.” (more)

KABUL (AP) — The Afghan government agreed Saturday on a transition plan to take over responsibility for the U.S.-run prison at the Bagram air base following criticism of human rights abuses at the facility. U.S. and Afghan officials said the handover could occur by the end of the year. (more)