Posted by Tina
From the Wall Street Journal:
“President Obama explained his decision to dismiss General Stanley McChrystal yesterday by noting that he had a duty “to ensure that no diversion complicates the vital mission” that American forces are carrying out in Afghanistan. Fair enough. We don’t begrudge the President’s right to make that call, and no one is better qualified than General David Petraeus to replace his former deputy and run a counterinsurgency.
The larger questions now are whether the President can exert as much policy discipline over his civilian subordinates as he has on the military–and whether he’s willing to make a political investment in the war commensurate with the military sacrifice.
Mr. Obama seemed to acknowledge the first point in his remarks yesterday, saying that he had warned his national security team that, when it comes to war strategy, “I won’t tolerate division.” We hope that message got through to Vice President Joe Biden, whose opposition to the strategy has been leaked around the world and back, and who was recently quoted by Newsweek’s Jonathan Alter as saying that “in July 2011, you’re going to see a whole lot of people moving out [of Afghanistan], bet on it.”
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