Kay B. Day
The US Report
Congress, government, military and lifestyles commentary
6/22/2010
Rolling Stone’s advance of an article with controversial remarks by Gen. Stanley McChrystal about President Barack Obama’s prosecution of the war will be on the screen for days to come. Apparently the general opened up to a freelancer and held little back when it came to deriding vice-president Joe Biden and ambassador to Afghanistan Karl W. Eikenberry. Eikenberry retired from the US Army as a Lieutenant General.*
But war correspondent Michael Yon had begun to ask questions about the leadership in Afghanistan weeks ago.
The Washington Post said McChrystal “is quoted in an upcoming profile in Rolling Stone magazine as saying that Karl W. Eikenberry, the U.S. ambassador to Kabul, had ‘betrayed’ him by sending a diplomatic cable to Washington last fall dismissing Karzai as ‘not an adequate strategic partner.’ The cable came as McChrystal was recommending that President Obama increase U.S. forces and ties with the Afghan government.”
Long before Rolling Stone published the story, war correspondent Michael Yon had also levied criticism at McChrystal. Yon came under fire from some milbloggers for his dispatches, and at least one military blog came close to character assassination because of what Yon wrote about McChrystal.
Yon has consistently turned out major stories about the war that others missed, such as the Canadian Brigadier General who not only fired his weapon negligently but also was accused of having an affair with a female staffer. The military and media lagged in that coverage.
Yon also pinpointed a serious blunder that left a vital bridge unsecured in Afghanistan, leading to deaths and injuries for soldiers and civilians.
In a dispatch on Yon’s Facebook Fan Page where approximately 35,000 fans read his posts, he wrote: “If a Colonel under General McChrystal’s chain of command publicly dismissed General McChrystal in a major magazine, McChrystal would be forced to fire him or appear weak and not in control.”
The article continues at The US Report.
Read also, Who will replace the General?, blogs.cbn.com
WASHINGTON (AP) – Gen. Stanley McChrystal’s job appeared in grave jeopardy Tuesday as an infuriated President Barack Obama summoned the Afghanistan war’s U.S. commander to Washington to explain his extraordinary complaints about the president and his aides.
Obama press secretary Robert Gibbs said “the magnitude and greatness of the mistake here are profound” and repeatedly declined to say McChrystal’s job was safe. “All options are on the table,” he said.
Defense Secretary Robert Gates said the commander’s comments were “distractions” to the war in Afghanistan.
UPDATE: Common American Journal welcomes readers from Blazing Cat Fur.
