The resignation of four-star General Stanley McChrystal from command of U.S. forces in Afghanistan came Wednesday after fallout from an interview appearing in Rolling Stone. McChrystal, whose involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan has earned him praise in the past, used the magazine interview as an avenue to offer criticisms of the Obama administration. The White House was quick to push the ouster and propose a replacement and offer a replacement to command Allied forces in Afghanistan who will most likely have broad support in Congress.  By putting forward another four-star general, David H. Petraeus, as McChrystal’s replacement President Obama has created a rather interesting dilemma.

While this author previously supported the choice of McChrystal to command operations in Afghanistan, this controversy necessitated his departure. If a war is not going as desired, a general should be free to say so. However, sharing his concerns with Congress would have been a more appropriate means than openly criticizing the Commander-in-Chief to a columnist. Whistleblowers serve a valuable function, but if the Vietnam War was any indication, there is a right way and a wrong way to do things.

The left-wing issue advocacy and political action committee collectively known as MoveOn.org made their weight felt in the last election cycle. The progressive organization backed then-Senator Obama’s candidacy for the presidential nomination of the Democratic Party, and subsequently in the 2008 Presidential Election. True to form, MoveOn has been at it again this election cycle with mixed success. MoveOn was among the many groups to back Joe Sestak over Arlen Specter in the Pennsylvania U.S. Senate Primary. Earlier this week, a MoveOn-endorsed candidate won the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate in North Carolina where the incumbent Republican Richard Burr may be vulnerable. The more recent attempt to oust another sitting Democratic U.S. Senator, Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas, was unsuccessful. That MoveOn viewed Ms. Lincoln as insufficiently liberal is itself disturbing, but rather less so than another former MoveOn campaign.

In September, 2007, Move On posed a rather offensive question.

The text which followed the excerpt above (pdf) made various bogus contentions with respect to the war in Iraq and the surge strategy being employed by the Bush administration to draw that conflict to a close. In reality, the successes of the surge strategy led to the ability of the Bush administration to set a draw down plan into place. Indeed, General Petraeus has won wide praise for his keen understanding of what is at stake in Western Asia.

As with Vietnam, there are many just criticisms of the war in Iraq. Like Vietnam, the necessity or validity of U.S. involvement there will be a long debated topic. However, maligning a general serving a free society making the best of a bad situation is an offense not far off from the sort of disgusting treatment offered to American personnel returning from service in Southeast Asia during the Johnson and Nixon administrations.

President Obama was right to have pursued victory in Afghanistan upon taking office. There may be no person better suited to do so than the general responsible for the much-maligned Iraq surge. However, the choice is curious considering that the current President of the United States has never acknowleged the success of the surge strategy in Iraq. How MoveOn and its defenders will address their Petraeus dilemma has yet to be seen.

If it remains the belief of President Obama that the Iraq surge did not work, then proposing Petraeus to direct the ongoing Afghanistan surge and reconstruction is irresponsible. However, if instead the ‘agent of change’ today running this great country now feels that the Iraq surge did work, he owes it to those that elected him as well as those who opposed him to declare such. Making such an announcement would give credibility to the notion that President Obama is above the partisanship that has thus far been the hallmark of the Democratic Party under his leadership.

Last 5 posts by James Kane

• A November to Remember - November 8th, 2010
• On hope and fear - October 18th, 2010
• Expecting Different Results - September 12th, 2010
• A glaring omission on Iraq - August 31st, 2010
• Employing a losing strategy - August 7th, 2010