While I agree with Chris Bowers that Gen. Stanley McChrystal cannot be afforded any special treatment because he is a General when it comes to disrespecting and undermining his superiors, I also agree with Jim White that McChrystal should be getting called back to Washington to undergo a serious re-evaluation of our policies in Afghanistan and ending the war. Of course, I don’t expect McChrystal to neither be fired nor be commanded to fundamentally change our presence in Afghanistan.
As an interesting counterfactual, I wonder what would happen if Jared Bernstein, Vice President Biden’s chief economic adviser and a real progressive, went to the press with complaints about the feckless economic policies the administration has pursued, eschewing job creation and stimulus spending in favor of deficit hawk rhetoric. I can’t imagine there would be any other resolution than him being fired. But we’ll see what happens with McChrystal.
Hold Fast 
This is one of the more telling moments in this Administration. McChrystal’s comments constitute a violation of Article 88 of the USCMJ and warrant court marshal. Similarly all the members of his staff quoted in the Rolling Stone article desire a similar fate. This is a direct challenge to civilian control of the military and represents as severe a challange as the one that Douglas MacArthur served up on President Truman. The relentless militarization of our society and the praise of all things military that has accelerated during the “War on Terror” only compounds the seriousness of this situation. If Obama caves on this, the balance of his presidency will suffer the impact of the perception that he is a wimp and can be rolled by any determined player. Not only is his presidency at stake, the office that he holds is. Don’t rely on me – check Col. Patrick Lang at SIc Sempris Tyrannis for the view of a carrer military officer.
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