President Obama said Wednesday he feels no "personal insult" from Gen. Stanley McChrystal but accepted his resignation as the commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan because he couldn't abide scathing comments by McChrystal and his aides that appeared in an article out this week in Rolling Stone magazine.

"The conduct represented in the recently published article does not meet the standard that should be set by a commanding general. It undermines the civilian control of the military that is at the core of our democratic system. And it erodes the trust that's necessary for our team to work together to achieve our objectives in Afghanistan," Obama said.

In Rose Garden remarks, Obama nominated Gen. David Petraeus, the head of U.S. Central Command and the former commanding general in Iraq, to replace McChrystal. Petraeus' confirmation hearing in the Senate could come as early as Thursday.

The president said he had no disagreements with McChrystal's policy or conduct in the war in Afghanistan, and the change in personnel does not mean a change in policy. He said the two were on the same page in terms of war strategy, but no "diversion" to the mission was acceptable.

"I don't make this decision based on any difference in policy with General McChrystal, as we are in full agreement about our strategy. Nor do I make this decision out of any sense of personal insult. Stan McChrystal has always shown great courtesy and carried out my orders faithfully. I've got great admiration for him and for his long record of service in uniform," he said.

Flanked by Petraeus, Vice President Joe Biden, Defense Secretary Robert Gates, Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Adm. Mike Mullen, Obama said he relieved McChrystal "with considerable regret, but also with certainty that it is the right thing for our mission in Afghanistan, for our military and for our country.

"War is bigger than any one man or woman, whether a private, a general or a president," he said.

According to administration officials, McChrystal did not fight to keep his job. He offered his resignation immediately during a face-to-face meeting with Obama Wednesday morning in the Oval Office and the president accepted it without hesitation, though "regretfully and sorrowfully."

After meeting for 30 minutes with McChrystal, Obama summoned his top advisers to discuss the situation. He afterward met with Petraeus for 40 minutes and asked him to accept the vacant position -- Petraeus was aware ahead of time that he could be asked to assume the job, according to officials. The general will bring in his own staff once, as expected, the Senate confirms him as head of U.S. forces in Afghanistan.

Before announcing the decision, Obama called Afghan President Hamid Karzai. McChrystal was originally scheduled to join in on a national security team strategy session in the Situation Room on Wednesday via teleconference, but he was summoned to Washington amid concern over the article.

If not insubordination, the remarks in the Rolling Stone magazine article were at least an indirect challenge to civilian management of the war in Washington by its top military commander. Military leaders rarely challenge their commander in chief publicly, and, when they do, consequences tend to be more severe than a scolding.

The president won bipartisan support for his decision Wednesday. Republicans, while praising McChrystal for his service, said he had crossed a line.

"General McChrystal's recent comments were entirely inappropriate," Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., said in a written statement.

Karzai said through a spokesman that he hoped for a different outcome but respected the decision.

Gates hand-picked McChrystal to take over the war last year, calling him a driven visionary with the fortitude and intelligence to turn the war around. Obama fired the previous commander at Gates' recommendation.

In Kabul on Tuesday, McChrystal issued a statement saying: "I extend my sincerest apology for this profile. It was a mistake reflecting poor judgment and should never have happened." He later fired his press aide.

In the Rolling Stone article, McChrystal and his staff described the president as unprepared for their first one-on-one encounter.

McChrystal also said he felt betrayed and blind-sided by his diplomatic partner, Ambassador Karl Eikenberry. Eikenberry remains in his post in Kabul, and although both men publicly say they are friends, their rift is on full display. McChrystal and Eikenberry, himself a retired Army general, stood as far apart as the speakers' platform would allow during a White House news conference last month.

The Rolling Stone story characterized the general as unable to convince some of his own soldiers that his strategy can win the nation's longest-running war, and dejected that the president didn't know about his commendable military record.

The article says that although McChrystal voted for Obama, the two failed to connect from the start. Obama called McChrystal on the carpet last fall for speaking too bluntly about his desire for more troops.

"I found that time painful," McChrystal said in the article, on newsstands Friday. "I was selling an unsellable position."

It quoted an adviser to McChrystal dismissing their early meeting last year as a "10-minute photo-op."

"Obama clearly didn't know anything about him, who he was. The boss was pretty disappointed," the adviser told the magazine.

Some of the strongest criticism was reserved for Richard Holbrooke, Obama's special envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan.

"The boss says he's like a wounded animal," one of the general's aides was quoted as saying. "Holbrooke keeps hearing rumors that he's going to get fired, so that makes him dangerous."

McChrystal also said he felt "betrayed" by Eikenberry for expressing doubts about his proposed troop buildup last year and accused the ambassador of giving himself cover.

"Here's one that covers his flank for the history books," McChrystal told the magazine. "Now, if we fail, they can say 'I told you so."'

Obama agreed to dispatch an additional 30,000 U.S. troops to Afghanistan only after months of study that many in the military found frustrating. The White House's troop commitment was coupled with a pledge to begin bringing troops home in July 2011, in what counterinsurgency strategists advising McChrystal regarded as an arbitrary deadline.

The profile, titled "The Runaway General," emerged from several weeks of interviews and travel with McChrystal's tight circle of aides this spring.

It includes a list of administration figures said to back McChrystal, including Gates and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, and puts Vice President Joe Biden at the top of a list of those who don't.

The article claims McChrystal has seized control of the war "by never taking his eye off the real enemy: The wimps in the White House."

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/06/23/mcchrystal-afghanistan-fate/

What a bonehead, knocking the Commander in Chief and his cabinet to a liberal media outlet.

Just keep your opinions to yourself just like the rest of the men and women in the military and military leadership who hate the President and the rest of the wimps in the White House.

I don't think he should have lost his command though. He had ran successful campaigns in the war on terror and with another major offensive coming up it's another bad move the Obama administration is making.

Atleast he's got and awesome replacement going over there to get the job done. If Obama had half a brain he would put Patraeus in charge of everything.

He's more than a bonehead. He's an egotistical hothead. And yes, he was insubordinate. To go outside the chain of command and speak so ill of the president and your leaders is as isubordinate as you can get. The whitehouse was handed a screwed up mess from the onset. The former president was told not to go into this war from the getgo. Bush AKA chief idiot, decided to go into war anyway with the dellusion that it would end shortly and sweetly. All the right wingers went along with it like bees to honey. They even went so far as to vote him in for a second term. Heck, why not vote him in so he could flush an economy he already put in the toilet. People keep blaming Obama for trying to fix things already trashed by the former government.

Now, let's move onto the Gulf Mess!! Deregulation by the Bush/Cheney group led to the mess we now have. To again blame Obama for not fixing it when first in office is rediculous at best. With so many issues to hurdle, it's hard to fix them all in only a few years. An economy tanked, unemployment at a all time high, a unwinnable war, oil companies running rampant and allowed to do what they like, health insurance issues, etc. etc. I just want to see the people knocking his leadership, do a better job!! Everyone can sit back and judge but I doubt anyone would or could handle this mess any better!!! Obama has demonstrated true leadership qualities and has done it all with a cool head and amazing wit. We can only thank God we don't have Mcain/Palin in the Whitehouse!!!

No active duty officer has any business doing an interview with "Rolling Stone".

I respect he had the humility to offer his resignation, I think this was not the first time he had been 'warned' about that type of speaking out. Seems, so far, that everyone has handled it with integrity and responsibility.

People had been handling themselves just fine in the Gulf region before inflationists like Greenspan and Bernanke threw a bunch of easy money (liquidity) into the system (with the approval of most dems and repubs). Had the bubbles of the 90s and 2000s not happened, this disaster would not have been possible.

I don't know why you think Obama has "demonstrated true leadership qualities and has done it all with a cool head and amazing wit". All he does is sign documents and read speeches from a teleprompter (like every regimist before him).

I tend to feel like he actually UNDERSTANDS whatever he reads though,,,and havent yet seen footage of him flipping anyone off or cursing,,,

Unless they sign a document saying otherwise, it seems very nice and patriotic of McChrystal to expose the regime's corruption for us.

Democrats have been in full control of the last two years of the Bush administration and the entire time of the Obama adminstration.The economy tanked when the Democrats took over and has been tanking every since.You keep blaming right wingers for these problems when Democrats have been running the show for the last 3 and a half years.If you are going to blame anyone blame the Democrats.

I think anyone could handle this mess better than Obama.One think I can always count on with Obama is a whole lot of empty promises,failed ideas,and a massive bill that costs 10 times what they estimated.It would be interesting if Obama had to run for re-election starting today.What is he going to tell the American people he has accomplished?

Why not?I was in the military and what you do on your own time is your business.Your right to free speech doesn't end when you enter the military.Your opinion is just that.Funny how when Bush was running the show every media outlet in the world was doing interviews with every officer they could drag into the network.How many countless interviews did we hear from Generals running the War criticizing Bush.Anyone remember Tony snow writing a book and just pulverizing Bush into oblivion?

I think Obama is a jerk for what he has done.If you would have read the interview 90% of what was said was from various people around him.He did nothing wrong and he has ever right to criticize his commander as long as it is not treason,or insubordination.He also did not say what he said to Obamas face he said it to a reporter.There is not rules in the military that say you have to like who is commanding you.You only have to do what they tell you to do.This General has been doing just that.

What is Obama going to do now?Start firing every Government official in the United states because they disagree with his ideas?Obama is just showing his Communist agenda by silencing anyone who disagrees with him.George Bush would have never done that.

Before you start blaming the right wing crowd related to this firing know that McCrystal voted for Obama and that Obama is firing one of it's own.

No disrespect intended here Mr Thomas.

When I enlisted, we were told, we were now Gov. property and soldiers 24/7.

We also were enlightened about the chain of command.

If we broke that chain, we could get a warning, an article 15, or face a court martial.

If you had any personal thoughts about presidents, it was best to keep them to yourselves.

the democrats are so hypocitcal just 2 yearsa ago they where calling patreus a liar, and now they praise obama for putting him in charge

^^ The truth has no place in politics or on Capital Hill.

I still say the insubordinate bast@rd should have walked in with four stars, left with two and a new posting in Greenland or Antartica.


If it'd of been a Sgt. popping off to a Capt., he'd of lost some stripes and been assigned to some very sh1tty detail. Officers should get the same punishment.

Oh. You've never 'seen' him FLIPPING US OFF ... ? It's a PATTERN with him ...

The only thing he 'understands' is that he despises the nation and people who elected him.

Here's visual proof ...

What y' gonna believe - him? Or your lyin' eyes ... ?

Thomas, as ex-mil myself, I have to disagree with part of your statement. When you put on the Electric Green Pickle Suit, you DO give up some of the rights you enjoy as a civilian. Your speech IS governed by the UCMJ (Uniform Code of Military Justice). McChrystal's FIRST and BIGGEST mistake was to allow himself and his staffers to be shadowed by a 'writer' for a magazine whose demographic is stoner dopers. If McChrystal had been serious about wanting to publicly express disagreement with 'The UN', the PROPER way for him to have done that is to RESIGN his commission, get an Honorable Discharge, and THEN go on TV or radio in a suit and tie - NOT in uniform - and say whatever the hell he wants to say. He would then be a civilian and NOT subject to UCMJ restrictions. That having been said, I'm not sure just how much I can support his overly-restrictive 'rules of engagement' ... in a way, it may be better that he IS gone. The troops deserve a leader who's not gonna tell 'em to NOT patrol in areas where they're likely to make contact with the enemy. WTF ... ? What ever happened to 'kill people and break things' ... ?

actually, I dont eve think it has much to do with free speech, noone is saying what he did was illegal, just irresponsible,,

but I would love to see this interview,, where can I read it,,,?

An officer does have a responsibility to keep the interest of the troops at heart, even in his speech and public persona

to display dissention in a PUBLIC forum gives ammunition to others,

just like I would never go in public and bad mouth or air what problem my husband and I were having,,,I believe its just as irresponsible for a captain or military leader to go in public badmouthing the military or other military heads while they are actively participating in a 'war'

and what was posted so far in media was more than just disagreement, it was divisive speech,, saying someone is 'covering' their tracks and if something goes wrong they are going to blame him,,,goes a bit beyond mere policy disagreement and steps into something on a more personal level...

Should the visual proof have been larger ... ?

That is actually funny to me.

I wish he would flip the stupid people in this country who hate him because he is a black man off.

I wish he would flip the people who are too ignorant to realize that he is doing all he can under what he inherited off.

I wish he would flip off all the lying people who keep telling more and more lies about him off'

If he were really flipping off all those people I would be so fricken happy.

But he has too much class and decorum to do something so low class.

But I can wish.....

Insane Hussein named Bush's General, General Petraeus as the new General in charge, of the war efforts in Afghanistan.

This is the same General the left, Harry we can't win the war Reid, John they swift boated me Kerry, Billary, the pant suit queen Clinton, Joe O Bite me the blabber mouth, Henry wax this Man, and the Liberal Messiah himself who all said we couldn't win the war and Petraeus was incompetent to conduct the war effort.

Suddenly, he has become their Hero replacing Insane Hussein's first pick.

The drive by media blasted Petraeus calling him General Be-tray-us, is now their new Hero, a Bush General.

Patraeus got picked because of his experience with this "military action".

Obama is still going to do what he wants to do so it doesn't matter his association with Bush.