John Darkow, Columbia Daily Tribune, Missouri

In the rough and tumble worlds of Afghanistan and Pakistan, General Stanley McChrystal’s dismissal looks more like the act of a President floundering in a labyrinth than of a statesman steering a brutal war with sure hands. President Barack Obama may have to pay a heavy price for buttressing the impression among battle-hardened nationalist, insurgents and terrorists that neither the American people nor his...

Amid the din and excitement surrounding the resignation of General McChrystal and the nomination of General Petraeus to replace him, I haven’t heard or read much speculation by the experts or the pundits on who will replace Petraeus at Central Command—CENTCOM. There are some exceptions. One newspaper, The Stars and Stripes, addresses the issue in an interesting way. In its June 23 edition, under the headline,...

Besides my computer crashing and taking care of nasty business in my drug coverage caused by cutbacks in California’s Medicaid bankrupt system, I was effectively muzzled by weariness yesterday to file a column on Afghanistan. So a day late and many dollars short, I think what I began to write still holds true. Here’s the first part. By naming Army Gen. David H. Petraeus the new military commander...

Guest post by Wade C. Barnes Wade Barnes is a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy, a veteran naval officer, and a fellow at the Truman National Security Project. He is a graduate student at Dartmouth College’s Tuck School of Business and Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government. The circumstances that culminated in the resignation of General Stanley McChrystal as Commander of U.S. and NATO...

Many of you will remember the 2002 movie “Windtalkers.” It is a World War II movie about the use of Native Americans, such as the Navajos, in the Pacific Theater by the U.S. intelligence services to transmit secret messages using “codes” built around their ancient language. Those codes are said to have been virtually “crack-proof,” and were extremely valuable to the war effort. It was one of WWII’s...

There has been a lot written on Barack Obama relieving Gen. Stanley McChrystal of command — but Time’s Mark Halperin nails it.

Our Quote of the Day comes from The Atlantic’s Marc Ambinder who writes about rumors that were spread after President Barack Obama fired Gen. Stanley McChrystal: Beginning in the early afternoon, a cadre of military and civilian soldiers loyal to Gen. Stanley McChrystal began to spread rumors throughout the capital city: that ground commanders in Afghanistan were threatening to resign … that the...

I grew up on anti war songs in the 60s and we’ve had dammed few of them when we’ve needed them recently. They don’t get the play they got in the 60s and early 70′s but they are out there and here is a good one. Of course the anti war songs of the 60′s may have been a bit more subtle;

Daryl Cagle, MSNBC.com This copyrighted cartoon is licensed to run on TMV. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited. All rights reserved.

Mike Keefe, The Denver Post

For someone who served under Patton in World War II and lived through the MacArthur mess over Korea, the text of McChrystal’s self-immolation in Rolling Stone still comes as a mild shock–a hard-to-believe-it’s-not-parody of macho gone mad in an era when top generals have learned to be as smooth as Petraeus, who sold Bush’s Iraq Surge without getting his hair mussed by the media. McChrystal,...

WASHINGTON — Gen. Stanley McChrystal put President Obama in an impossible position. That is why he had to go. A general’s tasks involve executing policies made by the commander in chief, plotting strategy and winning wars — not playing politics in the media to get at civilian rivals inside the government. What McChrystal did required Obama to change generals at a decisive moment in...

Did President Barack Obama thread the military and political needles by replacing Gen. Stanley McChrystal with Gen. David Patraeus? It certainly looks that way — for now. As we noted earlier, Obama’s decision on whether or not to boot McChrystal after Rolling Stone ran a profile of him in which the General and his associates at various times dissed Obama, other civilian leaders and even some military...

President Obama has replaced Gen. Stanley McChrystal with Gen. David Patraeus as Afghan theater commander. Responding to an article in the pop-culture magazine Rolling Stone wherein McChrystal made comments disparaging senior Obama administration officials responsible for Afghanistan war policies, President Obama had summoned Gen. McChrystal to a White House meeting.  Shortly after the meeting ended, President...

The frenzy whether Gen. Stanley McChrystal will resign, be fired or retained as commander of Afghanistan military forces for disparaging remarks about his civilian counterparts is misplaced. The focus should be on the foot soldiers carrying out the counterinsurgency mission with rules of engagement that are “handcuffing” their efforts to defeat the enemy. Indulge me for reprinting one paragraph...

Perhaps the only silver lining in this cloud is bipartisanship. Yesterday, Bill Kristol said McChrystal should go. John McCain pretty much said the same. I can’t imagine Petraeus really wants this job. It reminds of when Rumsfeld resigned and it seemed that no one in their right mind would want to become the next Secretary of Defense. (One attraction at the time was the low bar for improvement.) Petraeus...

In this post, we asked the question, “Obama’s meeting with McChrystal over–What now?” President Obama, in a nationally televised address from the White House Rose Garden with General Petraeus, Vice President Biden, Secretary Gates, at his side, has just answered the question. General Stanley McChrystal has been relieved of his command in Afghanistan. He will be replaced by General David...

Here’s a live video feed of President Barack Obama’s announcement that he’s relieving General Stanley McChrystal of his command: JOIN THE LIVE CHAT VISIT WHITEHOUSE.GOV

Update via MSNBC email – AP source: Obama chooses Gen. David Petraeus to replace McChrystal as top Afghan commander. According to MSNBC TV, Gen. McChrystal has been relieved of command. Obama to relieve McChrystal of command. Sources tell NBC News that the president has decided to replace him.