Craig Crawford

News commentator, blogger, author

This episode threatens to prolong this pointless war unless Petraeus unequivocally sticks to the departure plan. Already, in remarks to reporters, I am hearing wiggle room.

Ahmad Shuja

Writer, blogger, analyst

No matter what you think of Gen. McChrystal after the Rolling Stone article and the fiasco that ensued, he knew how to work in Afghanistan. Here are a few things he got right.

Michael Hughes

Foreign Policy Analyst

What is baffling is that McChrystal didn't provide one substantive reason for his contempt of civilian leadership and, if anything, it's we who should have contempt for Obama for trusting McChrystal in the first place.

Harry Shearer

Your dog's best friend

We only got to read about McChrystal & Co's imprudence because the RS reporter was a freelancer, not a Pentagon beat reporter desirous of maintaining his relationship with an important source.

Pepe Escobar

Roving correspondent for the Asia Times

Obama has stated on the record that replacing a general with another general does not mean a change in strategy. Is there a strategy? Yes -- infinite war; but the Pentagon won't allow that to be spelled out.

Kathy Kelly and Dan Pearson

Co-coordinator, Voices for Creative Nonviolence

President Obama and the U.S. people haven't faced up to the ugly truth that, in Afghanistan, the U.S. has routinely committed atrocities against innocent civilians. By ducking that truth, the U.S. reinforces a sense of exceptionalism.

Sarah Holewinski

Executive Director, Center for Civilians in Conflict

No matter his diplomatic wrongs, there is one piece of him we need to keep in Afghanistan: his emphasis on civilian protection.

Sandy Goodman

Retired producer for NBC Nightly News; freelance writer

If getting American troops out of Afghanistan in the shortest feasible time is still the president's aim, I don't think he can expect much support from the new man he's put in charge there, Gen. David Petraeus.

Linda Keenan and Janine R. Wedel

Author, "Suburgatory"

Over the past couple of decades, power brokers within the military increasingly have been subverting established official procedures, bucking authority, and exploiting ambiguity.

William Bradley

Political Analyst, NewWestNotes.com

Obama had something much more conventional in mind: Nation-building, like we tried in Vietnam, cast in the guise of counter-insurgency. McChrystal embraced it. Who knows what he really thought?

Jonathan Richards

Cartoonist

A cast change may not be enough when the real problem is with the material. ...

Chris Weigant

Political writer and blogger at ChrisWeigant.com

What we achieved in Iraq was to turn the Sunni populace by paying them "protection money" to stop shooting at our soldiers and shoot the people we directed them to. Tens of millions of taxpayer dollars.

Derrick Crowe

Political Director, Brave New Foundation

General Stanley McChrystal is out. But the disastrous counterinsurgency campaign he put in place is still grinding away in Afghanistan. That's got to change.

Ken Adelman

Vice President, Movers and Shakespeares

Clearly, McChrystal didn't heed the advice given in Shakespeare's classic play about mishaps in war, Troilus and Cressida -- "Lay thy finger on thy lips!"

Michael Brenner

Senior Fellow, the Center for Transatlantic Relations; Professor of International Affairs, University of Pittsburgh

McChrystal is more honest in his assessments than either Obama or Petraeus. The President is accustomed to throw the mantle of success over failure through glib talk and spin.

Alan Grayson

U.S. Congressman for Florida's 9th District

I called for McChrystal to go in October, 2009. I called for him to go yesterday. And now, he's gone. But this isn't about McChrystal's job. It's about McChrystal's plan -- the plan for endless war. The question is whether America is turning away from war. And we are. Slowly.