Legal scholar Bruce Ackerman thinks that McChrystal is overstepping it:
In a speech in London on Thursday, Gen. Stanley McChrystal publicly intervened in the debate over Afghanistan. Vice President Biden has suggested that we focus on fighting al-Qaeda and refrain from using our troops to prop up the government of President Hamid Karzai. But when this strategic option was raised at his presentation, McChrystal said it was a formula for "Chaos-istan." When asked whether he would support it, he said, "The short answer is: No." As commanding general in Afghanistan, McChrystal has no business making such public pronouncements.
It does seem odd, to have a commander pronounce so publicly and unequivocally on strategy right before the president announces what that strategy will be. And it makes me wonder, idly, if the 25-minute meeting wasn't arranged specifically for the president to rebuke his turbulent general.
Wants to be MacArthur perhaps?
More seriously, perhaps the poor guy has been reduced to going public, having not had enough meetings in private to make the case.
Posted by: ejoch | October 05, 2009 at 09:52 AM