Larison endorses the McChrystal surge?
I’m not sure if Daniel Larison’s latest column should be interpreted as an endorsement of McChrystal’s political independence or his actual strategy for Afghanistan, but it’s worth reading in full. His criticism of the Biden approach to counter-terrorism is particularly apt.
It might be his latest column, but it’s a month old. We’ve pretty much moved on from the ‘insubordination’ discussion, which was a reaction to serious problems with how the roll-out of the strategy was carried out that while not rising to the level of insubordination nevertheless prompted the SecDef to pointedly and in public make clear that all advice to the president (which all strategic commentary by high-level advisors is by definition) from people high in the in the military chain of command, especially when commenting on matters in their own command, needs to be made privately. Presumably the same message was sent in clear terms to directly to Gen. McChrystal via the chain of command as well. He has subsequently made what you could call a strategic retreat from the limelight.Report