Obama leaving options open on firing McChrystal, Gibbs says

By Michael D. Shear, Ernesto Londoño and Debbi Wilgoren
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.

Gibbs described Obama as "angry" after reading about McChrystal's comments in a Rolling Stone magazine profile.

Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said Tuesday that McChrystal "made a significant mistake and exercised poor judgment" in making the dismissive remarks to a reporter for the magazine.

McChrystal has been summoned to Washington to explain highly critical comments by him and his staff about Vice President Biden, U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan Karl W. Eikenberry and other top Obama administration officials.

The profile of McChrystal, titled the "Runaway General," is certain to increase tension between him and the White House. It also raises fresh questions about the judgment and leadership style of the commander appointed by President Obama last year in an effort to turn around a worsening conflict.

In a White House news briefing, Gibbs called McChrystal's comments "an enormous mistake" and repeatedly refused to offer confidence in the general or to say whether McChrystal's job is safe in the wake of the article.

"The president will speak with Gen. McChrystal about his comments, and we'll have more to say after that meeting," Gibbs said. Asked whether Obama was considering firing him, Gibbs said, "All options are on the table."

Gibbs called the gravity of the comments in the article "profound." He said of Obama's reaction, "he was angry." Pressed for details, Gibbs said that "you'd know it when you saw it."

Asked about comments in the article in which McChrystal reportedly said he was disappointed in Obama and did not think he had Obama's attention, Gibbs said that "he'll have his undivided attention tomorrow."

In response to questions about McChrystal's importance to the fight in Afghanistan, Gibbs said the effort there is "bigger than any one man."

In a statement, Gates said, "I read with concern the profile piece on Gen. Stanley McChrystal in the upcoming edition of 'Rolling Stone' magazine." He added: "Our troops and coalition partners are making extraordinary sacrifices on behalf of our security, and our singular focus must be on supporting them and succeeding in Afghanistan without such distractions.

"Gen. McChrystal has apologized to me and is similarly reaching out to others named in this article to apologize to them as well. I have recalled Gen. McChrystal to Washington to discuss this in person."

In the article, an anonymous McChrystal aide is quoted as calling national security adviser James L. Jones a "clown," who remains "stuck in 1985."

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."

The timing of the piece could hardly be worse. Amid a flurry of bad news in Afghanistan and a jump in NATO casualties, U.S. lawmakers and senior officials from NATO allied countries are asking increasingly sharp questions about the U.S.-led war strategy. McChrystal has struggled to turn the tide on a deteriorating conflict since taking over the Afghanistan effort last year.

Dutch and Canadian troops are scheduled to pull out within the next 12 months. And the White House has said it will start drawing down U.S. forces next July. (Photos of recent troop activities in Kandahar, Afghanistan)

The profile includes criticism that McChrystal is facing from some of his own troops, who have grown frustrated with new rules that force commanders be extraordinarily judicious in using lethal force.

A few weeks ago, according to the magazine, the general traveled to a small outpost in Kandahar province, in southern Afghanistan, to meet with a unit of soldiers reeling from the loss of a comrade, 23-year-old Cpl. Michael Ingram.

The corporal was killed in a booby-trapped house that some of the unit's commanders had unsuccessfully sought permission to blow up.

One soldier at the outpost showed Hastings, who was traveling with the general, a written directive instructing troops to "patrol only in areas that you are reasonably certain that you will not have to defend yourself with lethal force."

During a tense meeting with Ingram's platoon, one sergeant tells McChrystal: "Sir, some of the guys here, sir, think we're losing, sir."

McChrystal has championed a counterinsurgency strategy that prioritizes protecting the population as a means to marginalize and ultimately defeat the insurgency. Because new rules sharply restrict the circumstances under which airstrikes and other lethal operations that have resulted in civilian casualties can be conducted, some soldiers say the strategy has left them more exposed.

June is on track to be the deadliest month for NATO troops in Afghanistan since the war began nearly nine years ago. At least 63 NATO troops have been killed so far this month, including 10 who died Monday in a helicopter crash and a series of attacks.

In his statement, McChrystal says he has "enormous respect and admiration for President Obama and his national security team."

"Throughout my career, I have lived by the principles of personal honor and professional integrity," the general said. "What is reflected in this article falls far short of that standard."


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