McChrystal “Resigns”

This isn’t just insubordinate; it’s downright contemptuous.  In fact, McChrystal is cultivating a fraternity with the soldiers under his command that makes a mockery of the tradition of civilian command and control of the military… This is an easy call. Not least because the Uniform Code of Military Justice prohibits any military personnel from demeaning the commander in chief. Accordingly, Obama should emulate the way President Truman dealt with MacArthur by firing McChrystal before he has any chance to resign.  Period.

(Obama, don’t let McChrystal resign, fire him! The iPINIONS Journal, June 23, 2010)

I rarely publish updates, but in light of my commentary calling on Obama to fire General McChrystal, I feel obliged to make an exception today. For the significance of President Obama relieving McChrystal of his duties yesterday should not be overlooked, and cannot be overstated.

Here, in part, is how this president reasserted and reinforced his leadership as well as civilian control of the military:

Today I accepted General Stanley McChrystal’s resignation as commander of the International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan… The conduct represented in the recently published article does not meet the standard that should be set by a commanding general. It undermines the civilian control of the military that is at the core of our democratic system. And it erodes the trust that’s necessary for our team to work together to achieve our objectives in Afghanistan…

[N]ow is the time for all of us to come together. Doing so is not an option, but an obligation. I welcome debate among my team, but I won’t tolerate division.

(Washington Post, June 23, 2010)

Let me hasten to clarify that accepting a person’s resignation is Washington-speak for firing that person. Nothing betrays this fact quite like the way McChrystal was reportedly phoning in expressions of regret after this story broke to every person he dissed as well as every powerbroker in the city in a desperate bid to save his job.  And nothing indicates that Obama did the right thing by firing him quite like every single member of the Republican leadership voicing unconditional support for his decision.

I am mindful, however, that the leadership and courage Obama displayed is undermined somewhat by Republicans insisting that he had no choice but to fire McChrystal….

Anyway, now instead of Truman vs MacArthur, Obama vs McChrystal will be cited for the founding principle of civilian control of the military for generations to come.  And how’s this for a little chain-of-command irony: McChrystal reportedly claimed that Obama was intimidated by him. Therefore, just imagine how his head must have been reeling over the fact that Obama had just forced him to end his heroic career in abject humiliation as he left the White House yesterday with his tail between his legs.

I am dismayed, though, that Obama did not seize this opportunity to reverse course in Afghanistan. In fact, he could have displayed even greater leadership and courage by informing General David H. Patraeus, McChrystal’s boss and his replacement, that, instead of continuing to fight this unwinnable war, his mission is to begin the immediate withdrawal of U.S troops from Afghanistan.

Because not even Patraeus, who is roundly hailed as a war hero for executing the surge strategy that drove al-Qaeda out of Iraq, will be able to convince Afghans that it is sensible to work with the Americans for one more year only to face the wrath of the Taliban for the rest of their lives.

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Obama, don’t let McChrystal resign, fire him!