- It quotes a member of McChrystal's team making jokes about Biden, who was seen as critical of the general's efforts to escalate the conflict and who had favored a more limited counter-terrorism approach. "Biden?" the aide was quoted as saying. "Did you say: Bite me?" Biden initially opposed McChrystal's proposal for additional forces last year. He favored a narrower focus on hunting terrorists.
McChrystal has apologized, saying:
“It was a mistake reflecting poor judgment and should never have happened,” McChrystal said. “Throughout my career, I have lived by the principles of personal honor and professional integrity. What is reflected in this article falls far short of that standard. I have enormous respect and admiration for President Obama and his national security team, and for the civilian leaders and troops fighting this war and I remain committed to ensuring its successful outcome."
What is shocking is that McChrystal gave the offending quotes to a free-lancer at Rolling Stone. And that's why it's not shocking that his press aide, Duncan Boothby, has resigned.
This morning on MSNBC's Morning Joe, host Joe Scarborough said that McChrystal may resign, but that not happen. In case you haven't picked up a paper of late, the war isn't exactly going swimmingly, and dumping the man responsible for running it might make things considerably worse.
It feels like the 1970's all over again in the magazine journalism world, as for the 2nd straight week, Rolling Stone magazine has hit paydirt in a major piece about our government.
Last week their article by Tim Dickinson on the failures of the Obama administration before and after the oil spill in the Gulf ("The Spill, The Scandal and the President") was absolute must reading.
Now Washington is going nuts before 9 a.m. this Tuesday with selected critical quotes by General Stanley McChrystal, the leader of the war in Afghanistan about members of the Obama administration, and there is considerable speculation that he will be fired, or tender his resignation soon.
Among the charges in the story (which we can't provide a link to, because as of this morning it's not available - prompting John Dickinson of Slate to tweet that it feels so 1999-ish) is that 1 )McChrystal described his first meeting with Obama as disappointing and said that Obama was unprepared for the meeting. 2) National Security Advisor Jim Jones is described by a McChrystal aide as a “clown” stuck in 1985. 3) Ohers aides joked about Biden’s last name as sounding like “Bite me” since Biden opposed the surge.
There's more, according to MSNBC.com
- McChrystal has seized control of the war "by never taking his eye off the real enemy: The wimps in the White House."
- One aide called White House National Security Adviser Jim Jones, a retired four star general, a "clown" who was "stuck in 1985."
- Obama agreed to dispatch an additional 30,000 U.S. troops to Afghanistan only after months of study that many in the military found frustrating. And the White House's troop commitment was coupled with a pledge to begin bringing them home in July 2011, in what counterinsurgency strategists advising McChrystal regarded as an arbitrary deadline.
- The article portrayed McChrystal's team as disapproving of the Obama administration, with the exception of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who backed McCrystal's request for additional troops in Afghanistan.
