Tuesday, June 22, 2010
Obama leaving options open on firing McChrystal, Gibbs says
Washington Post Foreign Service
Tuesday, June 22, 2010; 1:38 PM
President Obama reacted angrily to derogatory comments by Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, about administration officials involved in Afghan policy and is leaving his options open about firing him, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said Tuesday.
McChrystal and some of his aides also appear to mock Vice President Biden, who opposed McChrystal's troop surge recommendation last year and instead urged a more focused emphasis on counterterrorism operations. Preparing for a speech he was about to give at a French military academy, McChrystal "wonders aloud" whether he will questioned about the well-publicized differences in opinion between himself and Biden.
"Are you asking me about Vice President Biden? Who's that?" McChrystal says with a laugh, trying out the line as a hypothetical response to the anticipated query.
"Biden?" chimes in an aide who is seated nearby, and who is not named in the article. "Did you say Bite me?"
The magazine hits newsstands Friday and was posted online at 10 a.m. Tuesday. The Washington Post received a copy of the article several hours before that from its author, Michael Hastings, a freelance journalist who has written for The Post in the past.
Most of the critical remarks in the article come from aides to the general, rather than McChrystal himself. Many of the quotes are from staffers whose names are withheld.
Some of the comments, such McChrystal's feigned lack of familiarity with Biden, are less insulting than others. But taken together, they are a surprising departure from the deference and reserve typically displayed by senior commanders.
The magazine story also includes descriptions of McChrystal's staff drinking heavily at an Irish pub in Paris, "two officers doing an Irish jig mixed with steps from a traditional Afghan wedding dance," and advisers singing a slurred, intoxicated songs whose only lyrics seem to be "Afghanistan, Afghanistan."
The article surfaced on the eve of the president's monthly meeting with his top advisers on Afghanistan, which is scheduled to take place Wednesday and includes Biden and many of the other advisers whom McChrystal or his staff mocked.
McChrystal typically joins that meeting by a secure videoconference from Afghanistan. But he was summoned to Washington to participate directly and explain his remarks, a senior administration official said Tuesday morning.
"I extend my sincerest apology for this profile," McChrystal said in a statement issued Tuesday morning. "It was a mistake reflecting poor judgment and it should have never happened."
Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, called McChrystal to express his "deep disappointment" with the comments, Reuters reported Tuesday.
A spokesman for Afghan President Hamid Karzai, however, issued a statement saying Karzai "strongly supports McChrystal and his strategy in Afghanistan and believes he is the best commander the United States has sent to Afghanistan over the last nine years," the wire service reported
Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.), chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said in a statement that "it would be a grave mistake" to allow the controversy over the article to distract attention from the war effort. "Now is not the time for Washington to be sidetracked by chatter," Kerry said. "Everyone needs to take a deep breath."
Kerry said he spoke with McChrystal by telephone Tuesday morning and stressed that U.S. leaders should remain focused on success in Afghanistan and the safety of U.S. troops.
House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer (D-Md.) said he was "prepared to withhold judgment for the next 24 hours" -- until after Obama could meet with the general and made a public statement.
Lt. Col. Joseph Breasseale, a U.S. military spokesman, said McChrystal called Biden and other senior administration officials Tuesday morning (Monday evening in Washington) in reference to the article. "After these discussions, he decided to travel to the U.S. for a meeting," Breasseale said in an e-mail. Officials in Washington who were familiar with the situation said the general apologized to Biden during the phone call.
McChrystal's civilian press aide, Duncan Boothby, submitted his resignation Tuesday as a result of the article, according to an official who spoke on condition of anonymity because it was a personnel issue.
It is not the first time that McChrystal has been dressed down by Obama. Shortly after the general's assessment of the situation in Afghanistan was made public last year, McChrystal gave a speech in London in which he publicly criticized those who advocated a scaled-back effort in Afghanistan.
Those comments were widely seen as being directed against Biden, who had promoted an approach in the country focused on targeting terrorists more narrowly. After that speech, an angry Obama summoned McChrystal to a face-to-face meeting on Air Force One in Copenhagen, where Obama had arrived to pitch Chicago's Olympic bid.
White House officials declined to comment publicly Tuesday morning, but the latest public relations blunder by McChrystal was viewed as sure to further strain his relationship with a president who puts a premium on message discipline and loyalty.
The article shows open disdain for Eikenberry, a retired three-star general who has sharp policy differences with McChrystal,. Referring to a leaked cable from Eikenberry that expressed concerns about the trustworthiness of Karzai, McChrystal is quoted as having said: "Here's one that covers his flank for the history books. Now if we fail, they can say, 'I told you so.' "
Referring to Richard C. Holbrooke, Obama's senior envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan, one McChrystal aide is quoted as saying: "The Boss says he's like a wounded animal. Holbrooke keeps hearing rumors that he's going to get fired, so that makes him dangerous."
On one occasion, McChrystal appears to react with exasperation when he receives an e-mail from Holbrooke. "Oh, not another e-mail from Holbrooke," McChrystal says, according to the article. "I don't even want to read it." (more)
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