Sen. Jim Webb (D-VA) appeared on Morning Joe today and added his voice to a growing chorus of lawmakers and other officials critiquing Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal’s public statements about his assessment of the war in Afghanistan and recommendations for strategy and troop levels there — particularly at a speech in London last week.
“I think Gen. McChrystal’s actions have been a little bit confusing quite frankly,” Webb said.
At a time when the national security people were meeting in the White House, he was off giving a speech in London. I thought that was pretty odd. He should have been one of two places. He either should have been in that meeting sharing his views in a collaborative process, or he should have been back in Afghanistan running the war.
Last night on Charlie Rose, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) said McChrystal’s assessment of the war shouldn’t be delivered “in press conferences.” On Sunday, National Security Adviser Gen. James Jones (Ret.) said on CNN that “ideally, it’s best for military advice to come up through the chain of command.” And yesterday, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates said military advisers should offer “our best advice to the president candidly — but privately.”
This morning, Webb said that “Gen. McChrystal has been receiving, I think, some very quiet warnings over the past few days, if you read closely what Jim Jones said and what the Secretary of Defense said.”
Webb, who supports a reduction in forces and counterinsurgency strategy in Afghanistan, also emphasized that “Gen. McChrystal’s recommendations are only one piece of that deliberation. And I think Gen. McChrystal needs to be clear that he understands that.”
Here’s the video:
