Kate already pointed out one important story getting buried by the McChrystal bombshells–for my money, amid the raft of bad judgment McChrystal exhibits in the profile, perhaps the most alarming is his fondness for Talladega Nights–but here are a few other items you might have missed today. –A federal judge in New Orleans has blocked [...]
While Stanley McChrystal and his inner circle may be quick to mock and insult senior Obama administration officials, that explosive Rolling Stone article featured very little substantive disagreement between McChrystal’s team and President Obama’s stated Afghanistan strategy. But in reality the military is awfully skeptical of Obama’s July 2011 target date to begin drawing down [...]
Baltimore’s Jewish Times tracks down Jack Abramoff, the convicted felon who was once among the most powerful lobbyists in Washington. He is now working a local pizza joint, Tov Pizza, which claims to be “Baltimore’s Best Kosher Pizza.” Not clear if Tov will start offering “YOU IZ DA MAN” slices, but Abramoff has also brushing [...]
In his briefing today, which is ongoing as I write, Press Secretary Robert Gibbs has made clear that “all options are on the table,” including firing Gen. Stanley McChrystal. Gibbs said that the president was “angry” when he saw the Rolling Stone article. Gibbs also added that “I think our efforts in Afghanistan are bigger [...]
As has long been expected, Peter Orszag’s cowboy boots will not be walking the halls of the Eisenhower Executive Office Building after next month. He is stepping down, to get married and experience life as lived by those who do not spend all day every day on call. An administration official tells me that the [...]
Andrew Exum, one of the smartest counterinsurgency experts around, lays out the case for and against firing the General. As he writes, it’s a close call on the merits–but no so close on the Uniform Code of Military Justice. Here is section 88 of the code: Any commissioned officer who uses contemptuous words against the [...]
AP reporter Jonathan M. Katz got his hands on a Senate report about the rebuilding efforts in Haiti and the situation looks very, very bad for residents of the ravaged capital Port-au-Prince. Five months after a devastating earthquake, bureaucratic obstacles, foreign aid that’s a mere trickle and the potential for real political strife are hampering [...]
A striking footnote to the McChrystal-Rolling Stone fiasco is the fact that the one top Obama administration official for whom McChrystal’s team has praise is… Hillary Clinton. Not that this is so shocking; as a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Clinton steeped herself in defense issues and rubbed elbows with the military brass, [...]
Here is the Stanley McChrystal I know: A few months ago, he received an email from a soldier fighting in Kandahar Province. The soldier was frustrated–as most of his comrades are–with the very restrictive rules of engagement that the General had laid down to prevent civilian casualties. Rather than ignore the email or have the [...]
