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McChrystal Apologizes For Comments On Administration Officials
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June 22, 2010 8:53 a.m. EST
Topics: government, ministers (government), politics, defense, unrest, conflicts and war, armed forces, United States
Kris Alingod - AHN News Contributor
Washington, DC, United States (AHN) - NATO and U.S. commander Army Gen. Stanley McChrystal apologized early Tuesday for comments he and his aides made about Obama administration officials in a magazine article that reveals the depth of tensions between the top military leader in charge of the Afghan war and the White House.
The article in question, “The Runaway General,” appears in a Rolling Stone issue to be released Friday. Published reports quoted McChrystal in his interview with the magazine as saying about Vice President Joe Biden's proposed strategy last year for Afghanistan, "Are you asking about Vice President Biden? Who’s that?”
Before President Barack Obama announced the deployment of 30,000 additional U.S. troops as part of a new strategy in the war, McChrystal had recommended sending more soldiers but Biden had called for keeping troops at the same levels and using more drone and missile attacks.
In the article, an aide to McChrystal also reportedly says of the vice president, “Biden? Did you say: Bite me?”
Another aide is quoted as mocking White House National Security Adviser James Jones as a "clown."
The general himself gives a rare display of candor, criticizing retired Lt. Gen Karl Eikenberry, the U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan, for sending cables to Washington last year with concerns about the deployment of more troops.
“I like Karl, I’ve known him for years, but they’d never said anything like that to us before,” McChrystal says. "Here’s one that covers his flank for the history books. Now if we fail, they can say, ‘I told you so.’”
The comments from the general and his aides come amid increasing casualties in the war as American forces prepare to draw down and turn over the security of the nation to Afghan soldiers.
NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said through a spokesman that the article is "unfortunate, but it is just an article."
"We are in the middle of a very real conflict, and the Secretary General has full confidence in Gen. McChrystal as the NATO Commander, and in his strategy," the NATO spokesman added.
McChrystal said in his apology that the article "was a mistake reflecting poor judgment."
"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," he added.
The general previously exposed rifts with the White House in his comments about the war and proposals from other administration officials.
McChrystal had said in his strategic assessment in August that the war was in serious jeopardy unless changes were made in 12 months, such as sending more troops to stem the growing Taliban insurgency.
As the White House continued its review of Afghanistan, McChrystal said in a speech before the Institute for Strategic Studies in London that decreasing troops would be a "short-sighted" strategy, and that using more drone and missile attacks, which Biden had urged, would lead to "Chaos-istan."
McChrystal's remarks had prompted Defense Sec. Robert Gates to publicly say, "The decisions that the president will make for the next stage of the Afghanistan campaign will be among the most important of his presidency... it is imperative that all of us taking part in these deliberations – civilian and military alike – provide our best advice to the president candidly but privately."
The U.S.-led war in Afghanistan is in its ninth year. U.S. forces begin the transition in July 2011.
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