You won’t likely hear broad opposition from the GOP to President Obama’s decision to replace General McChrystal with General Petraeus in Afghanistan. But they will continue to hammer the administration for having set a 2011 troop withdrawal date in that war, and criticize the civilian leadership in Afghanistan, particularly Ambassador Karl Eikenberry. In other words, McChrystal’s expected firing, and all the coy warnings that came with it, will ultimately change little about the politics of the Afghanistan war on the Hill.
“We are confident that General Petraeus’ leadership will have a very positive effect on the situation in the region,” Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) said at a press conference this afternoon. “The hearing for General Petraeus’ confirmation will probably be the fastest in the history of the Armed Services Committee.”
McCain serves as ranking member of that committee. He appeared alongside Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and Joe Lieberman (I-CT) to weigh in on Obama’s decision, and to highlight continuing differences, including over the withdrawal date, and the civilian leadership in Afghanistan.
The senators even tiptoed toward suggesting that Eikenberry should go as well.
“We still have concerns about the civilians side. In fact, I might suggest that consideration be given to reuniting the Crocker/Petraeus team [that served in Iraq],” McCain hinted, concerned, he said, about “relations between the ambassador and President Karzai, whether there’s a sufficient civilian side of this equation on the ground.”
“The unfortunate comments that appeared in the magazine article by General McChrystal and his staff reveal what we have known, which is that there is not the kind of unity within Afghanistan between our civilian and military leadership,” Lieberman said.
On the withdrawal date, McCain hit a common GOP theme: “If you tell the enemy when you are leaving it has an adverse effect on your ability to succeed.
Before the press conference, Sen. Kit Bond (R-MO) took things further, telling reporters that if the withdrawal date stands, Obama is “setting [Petraeus] up for failure.”
Graham, an Air Force judge advocate, for the most part echoed McCain and Lieberman. But he had the harshest words yet for McChrystal and his staff, who he said behaved insubordinately.
“It really did put in question military subordination to civilian control,” Graham said. “These officers who are unnamed: I understand you’re warriors and you’ve been shot at and you’re brave, but you let yourself and your Army down. The language used, the cavalier attitude, the disrespect–even though you may have disagreement–was unacceptable. This is a low point in my view for the armed forces in a very long time.
He even said it shouldn’t end with McChrystal. “Some other officers need to be looked at and they need to be replaced.”
