Loose Lips Sink Ships: Goodbye Gen. McChrystal

President Obama, Vice Pres. Biden, General  Petraeus

Loose-lipped General Stanley McChrystal is out, and General David Petraeus is in. In accepting McChrystal resignation in the wake of his scornful remarks to Rolling Stone magazine, President Obama said he did not make the decision "over any disagreement in policy" or "out of any sense of personal insult".  Speaking in the Rose Garden, the president said: "War is bigger than any one man or woman, whether a private, a general or a president."

The president felt that the job in Afghanistan could not be done under McChrystal's leadership.  He believed the critical remarks from the general did not display the conduct expected from s command-level officer.  McChrystal released a statement saying he resigned out of "a desire to see the mission succeed" and expressed support for the war strategy.

General David Patraeus was the architect of the successful war strategy in Iraq and, as the Central Command Chief, he was McChrystal's direct boss. In the Congressional hearing last week, he said he would reccommend dleaying the prescribed pullout of U. S. Forces from Afghanistan beginning July 2001.  He said security and political conditions in Afghanistan must be ready to hsndle s U. S. drawndown.

Sen. Carl Levin, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said he expected to hold a hearing by Tuesday on Petraeys' confirmation.

Sources; The Washington Post, The Daily Beast, Yahoo! News