What can he do for Obama’s one in Afstan? General Stanley McChrystal has been relieved of command by the president (McChrystal officially resigned, his brief statement here) and replaced by General David Petraeus (a lot of us had that idea). Gen. Petraeus was the face of COIN in Iraq and thinks it can work in Afstan. He is also, for the American public, their best known and most respected military man.
The new assignment will formally be a step down for him from head of US Central Command, which officially oversees non-ISAF US forces in Afstan. He will undoubtedly be confirmed by NATO as ISAF commander. One wonders what other alliance members must think about having the US unilaterally replace two ISAF commanders on them in just over a year since Obama became president (remember how, er, multilateral he was supposed to be compared to President Bush?).
In any event, good on General Petraeus–and good luck.
Mark
Ottawa
The Islamists must be laughing their asses off over this.
The hit piece by Rolling Stone acheived exactly the same effect as if a suicide bomber had snuck into central command an taken out General McCrystal in person.
He should not have given an interview to Rolling Stone.
It’s simple as that.
If only Obama would resign!
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