Obama boots Afghan war commander after controversial interview

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama on Wednesday accepted the resignation of Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the U.S. commander of the overall allied mission in Afghanistan, over controversial and disparaging remarks made about the president and senior White House staff.

Speaking from the Rose Garden at the White House, Obama announced that Gen. David Petraeus, the commander of U.S. Central Command, will replace McChrystal as the head of American and allied forces in Afghanistan.

"Americans should be grateful for Gen. McChrystal’s remarkable career in uniform. But war is bigger than any one man or woman, whether a private, a general or a president," Obama said. "As difficult as it is to lose Gen. McChrystal, I believe that it is the right decision for our national security."

The decision to relieve McChrystal of his duties comes at a crucial moment of the war in Afghanistan – as U.S. and NATO troops prepare for a months-long military offensive against the Taliban in Kandahar province.

The selection of Petraeus, the architect of the U.S. counter-insurgency strategy in Iraq, places a seasoned and popular battlefield commander in charge of a war that is growing increasingly unpopular among Americans.

Petraeus "will allow us to maintain the momentum and leadership that will allow us to succeed," Obama said.

Obama had summoned McChrystal to the White House from Kabul over criticism the general and his staff leveled at the president and senior members of his administration in a Rolling Stone article.

McChrystal left the White House following a brief, 20-minute meeting with Obama and did not attend a larger meeting with Obama’s larger national security team later on Wednesday morning.

The Rolling Stone article quotes senior aides to McChrystal as saying the four-star general was disappointed in the president’s leadership and found Obama disinterested in Afghan war strategy.

McChrystal is directly quoted mocking Vice-President Joe Biden and complaining he found it "painful" arguing for a troop surge in Afghanistan because of early White House resistance to the idea, which Obama ultimately embraced.

Obama said he accepted McChrystal’s resignation with "considerable regret" because he had "greatadmiration" for the four-star general’s long record of military service.

But "the conduct represented in the recently published article does not meet the standard that should be set by a commanding general," Obama said. "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."

Leading troops in battle demands "adherence to a strict code of conduct," Obama said.

"The strength and greatness of our military is rooted in the fact that this code applies equally to newly enlisted privates and to the general officer who commands them."

The decision to remove McChrystal from his command brought swift closure to a controversy that rocked the White House and Pentagon over the past 24 hours and highlighted deep divisions between America’s civilian leaders and military bosses in Afghanistan.

Obama said he would not tolerate any further divisions between civilian and military leaders over execution of war strategy and policy in Afghanistan.

"I have a responsibility to do whatever is necessary to succeed in Afghanistan and in our broader effort to disrupt, dismantle and defeat al-Qaida," he said. "I believe that this mission demands unity of effort across our alliance and across my national security team. And I don’t think that we can sustain that unity of effort and achieve our objectives in Afghanistan without making this change."

The Rolling Stone article revealed the deep contempt with which some of McChrystal’s closest adviser held for Obama, Biden and several other civilian leaders – including National Security Adviser James Jones and Karl Eikenberry, the U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan.

An adviser to McChrystal is quoted in the Rolling Stone article saying the general found Obama to be "uncomfortable and intimidated" during a meeting with senior military leaders at the Pentagon shortly after being sworn in as president.

Another senior aide said McChrystal was "pretty disappointed" with Obama after their initial one-on-one meeting on Afghanistan in 2009.

"Obama clearly didn’t know anything about him, who he was," the McChrystal aide is quoted as saying.

"Here’s the guy who’s going to run his f—ing war, but he didn’t seem very engaged."

The controversy sparked by McChrystal’s participation in the Rolling Stone article followed several other high profile run-ins with civilian leaders in the White House.

In October 2009, Obama summoned McChrystal for emergency talks aboard Air Force One in Denmark after the blunt general told an audience in London that a competing Afghanistan strategy proposed by Biden was "short sighted" and would produce "Chaos-istan."

Biden led internal White House opposition to the general’s proposal for a military surge.

At a minimum, the statements made by McChrystal’s closest advisers to Rolling Stone reflect a broader disdain for the civilian authorities who set policy in Afghanistan.

In one part of the Rolling Stone article, McChrystal jokes that he would respond to future questions about Biden by saying: "Who’s that?"

An aide present at the time quipped to McChrystal: "Biden? Did you say, `Bite me?’ "

One aide to McChrystal refers to Jones as a "clown." The aide also says McChrystal considers Richard Holbrooke, Obama’s special envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan, to be a "wounded animal."