General is called to answer to Obama

WASHINGTON - President Obama is to confront Army Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, his top commander in Afghanistan, on Wednesday in a high-stakes showdown that could be a pivotal point in America's longest war and a defining moment in Obama's presidency.

The White House meeting could end with the president reprimanding or firing McChrystal for making and condoning disparaging remarks about top members of the administration, and about Obama himself, for a magazine article.

Several Defense Department officials said Tuesday that McChrystal has no choice but to offer his resignation. It will be up to the president whether to accept it. "The only issue here is whether he retains the confidence of the president," one senior defense official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity because of the situation's sensitivity.

The president said Tuesday that the remarks by McChrystal and his team showed poor judgment but that "I also want to make sure that I talk to him directly before I make any final decisions."

Obama said his decision would be based "entirely on how I can make sure that we have a strategy that justifies the enormous courage and sacrifice that those men and women are making over there and that ultimately makes this country safer."

It would be Obama's second dismissal of the Afghan war's top general in little more than a year. In 2009, he dismissed Army Gen. David McKiernan at the urging of Pentagon brass and replaced him with McChrystal.

Whether the president rebukes or fires McChrystal, who issued a statement of apology Tuesday for comments widely seen as insubordinate, the decision could be a measure of Obama's standing as commander in chief.

It also will invite comparisons with historical conflicts over civilian control of the military, ranging from Abraham Lincoln's dismissal of Gen. George McClellan in 1862 during the Civil War to Harry Truman's 1951 firing of Gen. Douglas MacArthur during the Korean War.

"All options are on the table," White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said Tuesday when he was asked whether Obama might fire the general.

The president reacted with anger, Gibbs said, when he read the Rolling Stone magazine article in which McChrystal, 55, accused Karl Eikenberry, the U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan, of betraying him, and sat by as top aides made insulting remarks about Vice President Biden after McChrystal himself had playfully said of Biden, "Who's that?"

An aide also suggested McChrystal felt the president was unprepared for their first Oval Office meeting last year.

The Taliban reacted to McChrystal's predicament with glee. Spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid called his criticism of administration figures a sign of disarray and "the beginning of political defeat" for the West in Afghanistan.

Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said McChrystal had made "a significant mistake."

McChrystal found one staunch ally heading into the White House confrontation: Hamid Karzai. The Afghan president said the general was the "best commander" yet in the war and urged that he remain in command, according to a spokesman. Karzai also spoke with Obama by phone Tuesday.

The sniping underscored that divisions have remained months after Obama approved McChrystal's counterinsurgency strategy and some of the additional troops for Afghanistan the general requested, plans that Biden and Eikenberry opposed as unworkable.

In the article, McChrystal said Eikenberry "covers his flank for the history books" by writing a dissenting memo, while the general's aides referred to Biden as "bite me," to White House national security adviser James Jones as a "clown," and to special presidential envoy Richard C. Holbrooke as a "wounded animal." They also ridiculed French officials.

Gibbs signaled that Obama remained committed to McChrystal's counterinsurgency strategy, even if he questioned its architect and commander.

"This is bigger than anybody on the military or the civilian side," Gibbs said.

In a statement released as he raced back to Washington, McChrystal apologized.

"It was a mistake reflecting poor judgment and should never have happened. Throughout my career, I have lived by the principles of personal honor and professional integrity. What is reflected in this article falls far short of that standard," he said.

"I have enormous respect and admiration for President Obama and his national security team."

Obama faced pressure to punish McChrystal to underscore civilian control of the military and to make clear he wouldn't abide disrespect from a commander he has chastised previously for other impolitic remarks.

The president summoned McChrystal to a meeting aboard Air Force One last year to upbraid him for remarks in London criticizing Biden as "shortsighted" for opposing the troop buildup.

McChrystal also was suspected of leaking his argument for more troops to reporters last summer to pressure Obama to go along.

"His repeated contempt for the civilian chain of command demonstrates a bullheaded refusal to take other people's judgments into consideration," said Rep. David R. Obey (D., Wis.), chairman of the House Appropriations Committee.

In a joint statement, Sens. John McCain (R., Ariz.); Joe Lieberman, a Connecticut independent; and Lindsey Graham (R., S.C.) called McChrystal's comments "inappropriate and inconsistent with the traditional relationship between commander in chief and the military."

Sen. Carl Levin (D., Mich.), chairman of the Armed Services Committee, said the general's remarks were inappropriate but reflected "personality differences" and not the kind of broad policy disagreement that got Truman to fire MacArthur for advocating expanding the Korean War to China.

One high-ranking Republican lawmaker said the general's complaints should be aired rather than condemned.

"Obviously," said Rep. Eric Cantor of Virginia, his party's whip in the House, "a general and his top brass don't make statements like these without being frustrated."

Read the Rolling Stone article at its website via http://go.philly.com/general EndText