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Politics : Politics for Pros- moderated -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: KLP who wrote (369762)	6/22/2010 1:33:57 AM
From: KLP	3 Recommendations Respond to of 793955

Then this: AIDES TO U.S. GENERAL IN AFGHANISTAN SLAM OBAMA: REPORT WASHINGTON Mon Jun 21, 2010 11:23pm EDT WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The top U.S. general in Afghanistan apologized on Monday for comments by his aides insulting some of President Barack Obama's closest advisers in an article to be published on Friday in Rolling Stone magazine. The article also quotes an aide describing the commander of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan General Stanley McChrystal's "disappointment" with his initial one-on-one meeting with Obama last year. "I extend my sincerest apology for this profile. It was a mistake reflecting poor judgment and should never have happened," McChrystal said in a statement. "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," he said. "I have enormous respect and admiration for President Obama and his national security team, and for the civilian leaders and troops fighting this war and I remain committed to ensuring its successful outcome." The Rolling Stone article, which quoted several McChrystal aides anonymously, portrays a split between the U.S. military and Obama's advisers at an extremely sensitive moment for the Pentagon, which is fending off criticism of its strategy to turn around the nearly nine-year-old Afghan war. It quotes a member of McChrystal's team making jokes about Vice President Joe Biden, who was seen as critical of the general's efforts to escalate the conflict and who had favored a more limited counter-terrorism approach. "Biden?" the aide was quoted as saying. "Did you say: Bite me?" Another aide called White House National Security Adviser Jim Jones, a retired four star general, a "clown" who was "stuck in 1985." It quoted an adviser to McChrystal dismissing an early meeting with Obama as a "10-minute photo op." "Obama clearly didn't know anything about him, who he was. The boss was pretty disappointed," the adviser told the magazine. McChrystal, a workaholic said to sleep just four hours a day, was brought into Afghanistan a year ago after his predecessor was pushed out. The article portrays his teams as disapproving of the Obama administration, with the exception of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who backed McCrystal's request for additional troops in Afghanistan. Some of the strongest criticism was reserved for Richard Holbrooke, Obama's special envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan. "The boss says he's like a wounded animal," a member of the general's team is quoted as saying. "Holbrooke keeps hearing rumors that he's going to get fired, so that makes him dangerous." McChrystal was quoted as saying he felt "betrayed" by the leak of a classified cable from U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan Karl Eikenberry last year. The cable raised doubts about sending more troops to shore up an Afghan government already lacking in credibility. "I like Karl, I've known him for years, but they'd never said anything like that to us before," McChrystal was quoted as saying in the article. "Here's one that covers his flank for the history books. Now if we fail, they can say, 'I told you so.'" (Editing by Washington World Desk) reuters.com