Another Afghan war: Media leaks spark administration fight

[unhappycamper]

Relations have frayed between top U.S. officials and Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the U.S. commander in Afghanistan.


Another Afghan war: Media leaks spark administration fight
By Jonathan S. Landay, Dion Nissenbaum and John Walcott | McClatchy Newspapers
Posted on Thursday, November 12, 2009

WASHINGTON — The Obama administration's internal debate over Afghan policy has escalated into a battle of media leaks that's straining relations between officials who're seeking a major troop increase and those who want a more limited approach and a greater focus on domestic priorities.

The feud also has poisoned ties between the top U.S. military commander in Afghanistan and the U.S. ambassador in Kabul, and left the administration struggling for leverage to press Afghan President Hamid Karzai to appoint untainted officials to his new government, attack corruption and share power with the parliament and provincial officials.

The battle in the media prompted normally mild-mannered Defense Secretary Robert Gates to lash out at leakers Thursday, telling reporters on a flight to Oshkosh, Wis., that the disclosures do "not serve the country or . . . the military," and "everyone should just shut up."

It may be too late for that.

A U.S. defense official said the U.S. commander in Afghanistan, Army Gen. Stanley McChrystal, feels he was "stabbed in the back" by Karl Eikenberry, the U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan. Three months ago, Eikenberry supported McChrystal's request for more troops, but last week he sent a classified cable opposing it until Karzai shows that he can be trusted.


Rest of article at: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/227/story/78813.html

[Aramchek]

1. McChrystal should have been canned the moment he started going public