rssBiden Probably Wants to Renew His Rolling Stone Subscription
Tuesday, June 22, 2010 at 9:42 am
- 24 Comments
Vice President Biden will probably have the last laugh now that Gen. Stanley McChrystal is returning to Washington to learn his fate as commanding general in Afghanistan after insulting his civilian bosses and colleagues to Rolling Stone reporter Michael Hastings. No matter what happens to McChrystal, the article strengthens Biden’s hand in internal administration debates over Afghanistan and Pakistan strategy.
Should Obama fire McChrystal, it’s an opportunity to reorient Afghanistan strategy. Ironically, Hastings recounts Biden thinking McChrystal’s adjusted plan for Kandahar is “CT-plus,” meaning something closer to the counterterrorism-and-Pakistan-centric alternative Biden advocated last fall. I confess I don’t quite understand how he sees it that way. But it might convince Obama that McChrystal came around to Biden’s way of thinking anyway. And that no matter what, Afghanistan’s endgame is a political settlement with a Taliban divorced from al-Qaeda — a consensus view within the administration, including the senior military leadership — with Pakistan providing the political guarantees of Taliban compliance. That’s so Biden!
And if McChrystal ends up keeping his command, he’s in a chastened political and bureaucratic position. Hastings quotes an anonymous McChrystal aide musing about “a possibility we could ask for another surge of U.S. forces next summer if we see success here.” If there’s one thing McChrystal’s remarks to the magazine killed, it’s that. The barely concealed compromise within the Obama strategy for Afghanistan is that after the July 2011 transition to Afghan security control, McChrystal and counterinsurgency get phased down over time, and Lt. Gen. William Caldwell’s training mission for Afghan security forces gets phased up — as does Biden’s desired counterterrorism missions and emphasis on Pakistan. McChrystal and his allies will not be in any position to undo that bargain even if they want to.
Regardless of whether McChrystal should be fired — there’s, frankly, a compelling case to be made when considering the Uniform Code of Military Justice’s penalty of court martial for “any commissioned officer [using] contemptuous words” against the civilian chain of command — my guess is that he won’t be. Obama summoned McChrystal back to Washington pretty much immediately after the story hit, which suggests that he’s not thinking about a wholesale revision of his strategy. What’s more, if he does fire McChrystal, he’ll have the arduous task of finding new leadership for the war while the clock to July 2011 ticks, introducing new uncertainty among allies and enemies and NATO troops and dealing with another big round of strategy-in-disarray stories. All of which points to McChrystal having to learn to live with Biden — and the new influence that the general inadvertently gave the vice president.
Follow Spencer Ackerman on Twitter
24 Comments
Pingback posted June 22, 2010 @ 10:04 am
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by attackerman and mike hopkins, WashIndependent. WashIndependent said: Biden Probably Wants to Renew His Rolling Stone Subscription – http://bit.ly/bEUQIU [...]
Trackback posted June 22, 2010 @ 10:11 am
Biden Probably Wants to Renew His Rolling Stone Subscription « The ……
I found your entry interesting do I’ve added a Trackback to it on my weblog :)…
Pingback posted June 22, 2010 @ 11:48 am
[...] See original here: Biden Probably Wants to Renew His Rolling Stone Subscription « The … [...]
Pingback posted June 22, 2010 @ 12:25 pm
[...] was patriotic and it was facism to argue speaking out againt the president was anti american? Biden Probably Wants to Renew His Rolling Stone Subscription The Washington Independent Regardless of whether McChrystal should be fired — there’s, frankly, a compelling case [...]
Pingback posted June 22, 2010 @ 1:28 pm
[...] Biden Probably Wants to Renew His Rolling Stone Subscription « The … [...]
Pingback posted June 22, 2010 @ 1:31 pm
[...] Biden Probably Wants to Renew His Rolling Stone Subscription - The Washington Independent [...]
Pingback posted June 22, 2010 @ 3:37 pm
[...] Biden Probably Wants to Renew His Rolling Stone Subscription « The … [...]
Pingback posted June 22, 2010 @ 4:04 pm
[...] Ackerman: Biden probably wants to renew his Rolling Stone subscription: Vice President Biden will probably have the last laugh now that Gen. Stanley McChrystal is [...]
Comment posted June 22, 2010 @ 3:21 pm
This is the General Officer found responsible for the cover-up of a high profile friendly fire incident in Afghanistan years ago…he has a history of poor judgment…no one should be surprised, not even those who appointed him to this position knowing about his cover-up….
Pingback posted June 23, 2010 @ 12:23 am
[...] Biden Probably Wants to Renew His Rolling Stone Subscription « The Washington Independent [...]
Pingback posted June 23, 2010 @ 8:20 am
[...] also have McChrystal courtmartialed under existing law. Spencer Ackerman in the very conservative Washington Independent looks at it this way: Regardless of whether McChrystal should be fired — there’s, frankly, a [...]
Pingback posted June 23, 2010 @ 2:40 pm
[...] Biden Probably Wants to Renew His Rolling Stone Subscription « The … [...]
Pingback posted June 28, 2010 @ 3:17 am
[...] chucked out has relaxed considerably,” but he still thinks that McChrystal will probably get to stay. “Firing him carries its risks,” Ackerman writes. “There’s only a year to [...]
Trackback posted June 28, 2010 @ 6:29 am
Biden Probably Wants to Renew His Rolling Stone Subscription « The ……
I found your entry interesting do I’ve added a Trackback to it on my weblog :)…
Comment posted July 7, 2010 @ 9:48 am
Buy Cheap Football Jerseys from Sport Jersey's Store, Basketball Jerseys, NFL Jerseys,NHL Jerseys, NBA Jerseys,MLB Jerseys,Hockey Jerseys,Cheap NFL Jerseys,Wholesale NFL Jerseys
Cowboys cheap jerseys Steelers cheap jerseys Saints cheap jerseys Vikings cheap jerseys Raiders cheap jerseysYou may need Summer Equipment,Have a good summer holiday:Many kind of Brand Sunglsss ,Puma Shoes,Converse Shoes,Nike Shox Shoes .
Women's Air Max LTD on sale,Men's Air Max LTD Shoes was introduced in 2002,Nike Air Max 95 and Nike Basketball shoes are hot now,Nike Air Max 2009 retail for men and women,Nike running shoes and mbt shoes are the latest stock to hit our shores,with more boots shoes online,Our nike sneakers like Mens Shox NZ and Womens Shox NZ sale online.
Trackback posted July 11, 2010 @ 3:35 am
Vice President Biden Loves FIFA 2010 World Cup…
I found your entry interesting thus I’ve added a Trackback to it on my weblog :)…
Pingback posted July 15, 2010 @ 5:57 pm
[...] it is simply a policy that many Americans, including politicians like Elaine Marshall – and Vice President Biden, are putting forward as an alternative to endless war in Afghanistan (and possibly [...]
Pingback posted August 16, 2010 @ 4:06 am
[...] scheme the General developed and sold himself. Indeed, both those who think McChrystal is gone, and those who think he survives, agree that the President still backs the surge. They make their predictions about McChrystal based [...]
Pingback posted September 18, 2010 @ 1:33 am
[...] have been developed, including fleshed-out plans supporting Vice President’s Biden’s reported "CT plus" approach — which, I predict, we will eventually have to employ [...]
Pingback posted September 21, 2010 @ 11:58 am
[...] have been developed, including fleshed-out plans supporting Vice President’s Biden’s reported “CT plus” approach — which, I predict, we will eventually have to employ [...]
Pingback posted December 11, 2010 @ 7:26 am
[...] Spencer Ackerman says there’s a case to be made that McChrystal could be court-martialed. But, he adds, McChrystal probably won’t even get fired: [...]
Pingback posted May 21, 2011 @ 10:09 am
[...] Spencer Ackerman says there’s a case to be made that McChrystal could be court-martialed. But, he adds, McChrystal probably won’t even get fired: [...]
RSS feed for comments on this post.
Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.
