General McChrystal publicly rips administration in Rolling Stone

General Stanley McChrystal is being called on the White House carpet after a magazine article released this week quoted the general criticizing the Obama administration and its Afghanistan strategy with his staff. McChrystal and Obama meet regularly to discuss Afghanistan via videoconference. But after the Rolling Stone McChrystal profile broke, Obama demanded to see him this time in person. This isn't the very first time that in public the general has bad mouthed administration.

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McChrystal and his Obama contempt

In the article, General McChrystal and his staff reveal 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. Someone who is an aide to McChrystal also calls National Security Adviser Jim Jones “a clown” who remains “stuck in 1985.”

Rolling Stone fallout with McChrystal}

General McChrystal will attend a White House meeting with Biden and numerous of the other advisers with whom McChrystal mocked within the article. The general has fired Duncan Boothby, the press aide who booked the McChrystal Rolling Stone interview. According to the Washington Post, 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. In the meantime, the Associated Press reports that Afghan President Hamid Karzai strongly backs McChrystal in Afghanistan and hopes Obama doesn’t choose to replace him.

General McChrystal does it again

This has happened 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 occasion McChrystal was called on the carpet of Air Force One in Copenhagen, where the president traveled to speak about Chicago’s bid to host the Olympics within the future. The New York Times reports that General McChrystal has apologized for his remarks, saying the article was "a mistake reflecting poor judgment and should never have happened."

Additional details at these websites

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