Mr. President, if I were you, I would head to the White House press briefing room and make something like the following statement, without notes or teleprompter. The flap caused by General McChrystal’s and his staff’s comments to Rolling Stone are consequential enough for you and the country to say something like what follows:
I have relieved General Stanley McChrystal of his command in Afghanistan. He will be reassigned to the Pentagon. A replacement will be named for him in the next twenty-four hours. In the meantime, we continue to pursue the Afghanistan policy already enunciated by this administration.
Respect for the Constitution. Respect for the rule of law. Respect for civilian authority over the military. Respect for the commander in chief. Respect for our partners and allies. Respect for basic principles of American democracy. All of these qualities, essential in our Republic, have been either missing or deficient in the general and his staff.
The respect for civilian authority is something infused in the American DNA by our greatest military leader, General George Washington. Throughout America’s struggle for independence, Washington was a firm and consistent advocate for the welfare of his troops and for the war of attrition he knew he needed to fight in order to win. But Washington always respected the then-diffuse civilian authority of the Continental Congress. Washington could have had his way by “going public” with the discontent that his army felt, especially over not getting paid on time. But when he got wind of a conspiracy among his officers to force the civilian government to make way and give Washington executive or royal power, Washington nipped it in the bud, calling the whole thing shocking.
General McChrystal was not part of a conspiracy. But the contempt he and his aides demonstrated toward the Constitution and the chain of command could not help but impede our chance of success in Afghanistan while showing grave and destructive disrespect for the proper functioning of US constitutional government.
Thank you.
This is just my opinion. My personal blog is here.