For insubordination, for disrespecting the Office of the President of the United States and for allowing derision of the White House among his staff, General Stanley McChrystal must resign.
McChrystal has been summoned from Afghanistan to explain derisive comments and insubordination detailed in a new Rolling Stone article by Michael Hastings. As detailed in the article, the general and his staff were clearly disrespectful of the office of the president, as well as contemptuous of the civilian leadership of our country. McChrystal's behavior and his toleration of similar behavior from his staff breeds an attitude of contempt for civilian leadership among his officers, and no Commander-in-Chief should tolerate it. McChrystal should resign, and the president should accept his resignation.
In the article, McChrystal and his aides heap derision on National Security Advisor Jim Jones (a "clown,"), Vice President Joe Biden ("Bite me,"), and the President of the United States, Barack Obama.
When shown the article prior to it's publication, McChrystal didn't push back:
Eric Bates, the magazine's editor, said during an interview on MSNBC's "Morning Joe" that McChrystal saw the piece prior to its publication as part of Rolling Stone's standard fact-checking process - and that the general did not object to or dispute any of the reporting.
My friend, Michael Cohen, cites the United States Code of Military Justice to show how cut-and-dry this decision should be:
Any commissioned officer who uses contemptuous words against the President, the Vice President, Congress, the Secretary of Defense, the Secretary of a military department, the Secretary of Transportation, or the Governor or legislature of any State, Territory, Commonwealth, or possession in which he is on duty or present shall be punished as a court-martial may direct.
General McChrystal, his staff, and his friends over at the Center for a New American Security (CNAS) have tried to manhandle this president from the beginning. They've played media games to try to force the president's hand on the most recent troop increase in Afghanistan. Now they've been clearly insubordinate, clearly contemptuous of the civilian leadership of this country. He's corroded respect for the chain of command and for civilian control of the military. He must resign.
If the president wants to preserve a strong White House for the next president, he has to accept the resignation.
Sign our petition calling for McChrystal's resignation. We'll send it to the Pentagon and the White House when McChrystal shows up to explain himself.