Let's make that jobless number fifteen million... and ONE.

Last Monday, General Stanley McChrystal, the commander of all U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan, called up Joe Biden and apologized.  He was apologizing for comments his men made in the presence of a Rolling Stones skunk journalist that would be appearing later in the week.  At that time, the Vice President had no clue what Gen. McChrystal was apologizing for... but, today, the General was fired.

Well, if a Rolling Stone article can get the a General fired, it must have had some pretty damning stuff in it, right?
As the Wall Street Journal puts it, General McChrystal and his men "casually mocked the vice president as a nobody, National Security Adviser James Jones as a 'clown' and the president himself as uncomfortable with military leaders and initially unengaged on defense policy."

If you read the article, you'll be surprised by 2 things.  First, almost none of the most salacious quotes are from McChrystal himself, but from men around him.  And, second, the most salacious stuff  reads like this:

"Biden?" suggests a top adviser. "Did you say: Bite Me?"

 According to sources familiar with the meeting, McChrystal thought Obama looked "uncomfortable and intimidated" by the roomful of military brass.

The quotes from the General himself go more like this:

Observing his team. "All these men," he tells me. "I'd die for them. And they'd die for me."

You should really read the article yourself.  I'm sure the writer was disgusted by how men talk, and expected he was exposing something.  But, to service men and women, this will all seem very tame.  Hell, from anybody who spent time in a little league dugout, this will seem pretty tame.  But, I digress...

So, no matter how harmless or damning the article is, the damage is done.  Today, President Obama met with the General, I'm guessing posed angrily at his desk for a few minutes, and then dismissed him as top U.S. commander in Afghanistan.

Despite the fact that the General brought the article to his attention first, in the form of apology.
Despite the support of Afghan President Karzai.
Despite the support of the Secretary of Defense, Robert Gates.

And, this is where it gets really funny.
Because, 40 minutes after firing General McChrystal, the President then appoints General Petraeus to take his place.  (Yes THAT General Petraeus).

It took 4 months for President Obama to decide on a policy for the war in Afghanistan.
It took 40 minutes to replace the man he chose to enact his policy.

As most will recall, Senator Barack Obama joined the Moveon.org clowns back in 2007 in brow-beating Petraeus.  They were all betting against "The Surge" of troops into Iraq back then, because they wanted President Bush to fail.  Watch this inane 9 minutes of Senator Barack Obama grandstanding before a patient and compliant General Petraeus in September 2007:




To summarize:
Senator Barack Obama, 3 years ago, called the Surge in Afghanistan a "disastrous foreign policy mistake".   He called it "ineffectual".  As we all know by now, the Surge worked.

President Barack Obama, 7 months ago, knew the Surge worked, so he tried a smaller and lamer version for the Afghan war.  But, he doesn't have the intestinal fortitude to see it through.

So, now he's saying McChrystal did "not meet the standard that should be set by a commanding general" based on something he read in a music magazine.  But, that is all the excuse Obama needs to replace McChrystal (whom Obama appointed then turned on) with Petraeus (whom Bush appointed and Obama bet against).


(UPDATE: It appears the President has unwittingly empowered the Rolling Stones "writer"-- and created a monster.  The guy thinks he is writing policy now.)