Fate of McChrystal in doubt

6-22-2010
(Reuters) - The top U.S. general in Afghanistan faced possible removal on Tuesday after he and his aides were quoted in a magazine article mocking President Barack Obama and his top advisors.

General Stanley McChrystal, the U.S. and NATO commander in Afghanistan and the architect of Obama's war strategy, was summoned to Washington to explain his "enormous mistake in judgment" directly to the president, Obama's spokesman said.
Asked whether Obama was considering ousting the general, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs told reporters, "I would say all options are on the table."
McChrystal has apologized for the article, due to be published in Rolling Stone magazine on Friday.
It quotes McChrystal's aides calling one top Obama official a "clown" and another a "wounded animal." The general himself made belittling remarks about Vice President Joe Biden and the U.S. special envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan, Richard Holbrooke.
The Pentagon blasted McChrystal over his comments and stopped short of expressing confidence in his ability to continue leading the nearly nine-year-old war, seen by many analysts as in a stalemate with the Taliban.
Defense Secretary Robert Gates said McChrystal had "made a significant mistake and exercised poor judgment." Admiral Mike Mullen, who as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff is the top U.S. military officer, expressed his "deep disappointment."
"Gen. McChrystal has apologized to me and is similarly reaching out to others named in this article to apologize to them as well," Gates said in a statement.
McChrystal himself offered his "sincerest apology for this profile" before flying to Washington, where he will also meet with Gates on Wednesday.
"It was a mistake reflecting poor judgment and should never have happened," McChrystal said in a statement.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai fully backed the U.S. general and "believes he is the best commander the United States has sent to Afghanistan over the last nine years," a spokesman said.
Just six months ago, Obama backed McChrystal's request for more troops, escalating an unpopular conflict in which costs and casualties are soaring.
(Additional reporting by Will Dunham, Matt Spetalnick and Jeff Mason in Washington, David Fox and Jonathon Burch in Kabul; editing by Patricia Wilson and David Storey)

---Top aide to General McChrystal resigns

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