Stanley McChrystal – News Stories About Stanley McChrystal - Page 5

Nov 14, 2009 4:04 PM CST

Afghan Calculus: 40K Troops Equals $40B

High long-term costs a big factor in debate

(Newser) - When President Obama rejected advisers' recommendations on Afghan troops and insisted they be retooled with exit strategies, he had the war's long-term financial costs in mind, an insider tells the New York Times . While military strategy gets the headlines, the financial constraints also are weighing heavily. Some specfics:

Gen. McChyrstal's

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US Ambassador Disagrees
on Afghan Troop Surge

Nov 11, 2009 6:49 PM CST

US Ambassador Disagrees on Afghan Troop Surge

Wants Karzai government to shape up first

(Newser) - The US ambassador to Afghanistan—a former general who served there as recently as 2007—is against increasing troop levels until the Afghan government gets its act together. In classified cables ahead of President Obama’s deliberations on a surge, Karl Eikenberry cites rampant corruption and mismanagement in Hamid Karzai’...

CBS: Prez Will Grant McChrystal Troop Request

Nov 10, 2009 5:50 AM CST

CBS: Prez Will Grant McChrystal Troop Request

White House denies decision made

(Newser) - President Obama has decided to grant Gen. Stanley McChrystal's request for a large and long-term increase in US forces in Afghanistan, according to CBS and AP , which cite "informed sources." The president will give the general almost all the troops he has asked for, boosting the size of...

Obama Eyes 30K+ Troop Surge

AFGHAN STRATEGY REVIEW

Nov 8, 2009 9:18 AM CST

Obama Eyes 30K+ Troop Surge

Said to be close to decision as Asia trip looms

(Newser) - President Obama is zeroing in on an Afghanistan strategy that likely includes sending in some 30,000 troops, reports Reuters —short of Gen. Stanley McChrystal's requested 40,000, but far greater than war-weary Democrats may support. An additional 4,000 trainers are likely to be sent, McClatchy reports, with...

McChrystal Lied About Tillman's Death: Krakauer

Nov 2, 2009 7:39 AM CST

McChrystal Lied About Tillman's Death: Krakauer

New book draws attention to general's role in cover-up

(Newser) - A new book is dredging up some uncomfortable history for Stanley McChrystal at an inconvenient time. Just as the general's credibility is on the line in Afghanistan, Jon Krakauer’s paints McChrystal as the central figure in the cover-up of Pat Tillman’s friendly fire death. McChrystal says he made...

Obama Looks for Local
Allies in Afghanistan

Oct 29, 2009 6:53 AM CDT

Obama Looks for Local Allies in Afghanistan

Administration's decided it can't wipe out Taliban

(Newser) - President Obama has requested detailed, province-by-province analysis of Afghanistan’s local and tribal leaders, hoping to find more effective partners than the country’s weak and corrupt central government. The administration has concluded that no surge in troops will be able to eradicate the Taliban as a political force, but...

City-Focused
Afghan Plan
Winning Support

Oct 28, 2009 6:36 AM CDT

City-Focused Afghan Plan Winning Support

Emerging strategy fuses McChrystal, Biden competing plans

(Newser) - A plan one official describes as "McChrystal for the city, Biden for the country," is emerging as the administration continues to hammer out its Afghan strategy. The plan would concentrate US forces in population centers, while maintaining pressure on insurgents elsewhere with drone strikes and targeted attacks from...

Pentagon Holds
Secret Afghan
War Games

Oct 26, 2009 6:06 AM CDT

Pentagon Holds Secret Afghan War Games

Mullen leads exercise to assess effects of troop surge

(Newser) - The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Adm. Mike Mullen, led a secret war game earlier this month to assess the Obama administration's options in Afghanistan, including a 44,000-troop surge. A team of military leaders used Gen. Stanley McChrystal's analysis to examine how Taliban insurgents and the Afghan...

Obama Leans to
Modified McChrystal Plan

Oct 24, 2009 6:58 AM CDT

Obama Leans to Modified McChrystal Plan

Not buying Biden strategy as sufficient, without some troops

(Newser) - Gen. Stanley McChrystal looks less and less likely to walk away empty handed, the Wall Street Journal predicts, as President Obama moves towards a "hybrid" strategy in Afghanistan that would combine troop increases with the special ops approach supported by the vice president. One scenario would see 10,000...

Public Thinks Obama's Clueless on Afghanistan

Poll Numbers

Oct 21, 2009 8:17 AM CDT

Public Thinks Obama's Clueless on Afghanistan

Deeply divided country leaves president between rock, hard place

(Newser) - When it comes to the Afghan war, Barack Obama is between a rock and a hard place politically. Only 45% of the public approves of his handling of it, down 10 percentage points from last month, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll, and a whopping 63% don’t...

Military Frustrated
by 'Slow' Obama

Oct 20, 2009 3:54 AM CDT

Military Frustrated by 'Slow' Obama

Commanders irked by ongoing review of Afghanistan strategy

(Newser) - President Obama's ongoing review of Afghan strategy is frustrating military officers used to a different commander-in-chief's style, say past and present top brass. Some fear that the long deliberations over Gen. Stanley McChrystal's request for more troops signal weakness and indecision to the enemy, while others fear the president is...

Sources: Obama Will Send 40-45K More to Afghanistan

Oct 14, 2009 9:00 PM CDT

Sources: Obama Will Send 40-45K More to Afghanistan

White House denies a decision has made, but UK's move would make more sense

(Newser) - President Obama will announce a troop surge in Afghanistan next week, sources tell the BBC, with Afghanistan’s ambassador to the US saying Obama will commit as many as 45,000. The White House says there’s been no decision, with spokesman Robert Gibbs sniffing that the BBC wouldn’t...

Pentagon Downplays
13K Surge in Afghan
Support Troops

UPDATED

Oct 13, 2009 7:53 AM CDT

Pentagon Downplays 13K Surge in Afghan Support Troops

Extra thousands swell US numbers in Afghanistan

(Newser) - When does 21,000 equal 34,000? When the Pentagon is counting. The 21,000 additional troops President Obama approved for Afghanistan earlier this year have been accompanied by 13,000 extra support troops, bringing the total number in Afghanistan to nearly 68,000. Pentagon and White House officials have...

Obama Team Downplays
Risks in Afghan Pullback

Pentagon Insiders:

Oct 12, 2009 11:57 AM CDT

Obama Team Downplays Risks in Afghan Pullback

Al-Qaeda, Taliban much closer than public has been led to believe

(Newser) - US military and intelligence officials see dangerous misrepresentations in the Obama team’s flirting with a limited, anti-al-Qaeda strategy in Afghanistan. “The White House is downplaying the dangers of doing the only thing that they think Congress and the public will support,” an official tells McClatchy. But taking...

GOP to Obama:
Give McChrystal
His Troops

TALK SHOW ROUNDUP

Oct 11, 2009 11:19 AM CDT

GOP to Obama: Give McChrystal His Troops

McCain: Not granting request 'would be an error of historic proportions'

(Newser) - Afghanistan was the name of the game on the talk shows today, with John McCain pointedly warning President Obama on State of the Union that sending Gen. Stanley McChrystal anything less than the 40,000 troops he's requested "would be an error of historic proportions." Lindsey Graham chimed...

Pres. Hamlet Must Send in
His Troops

OPINION

Oct 9, 2009 11:15 AM CDT

Pres. Hamlet Must Send in His Troops

Krauthammer: Dems have to get serious about Afghanistan

(Newser) - It’s time for Democrats, particularly President Obama, to get serious about the war in Afghanistan, writes Charles Krauthammer. From John Kerry on, Democrats have campaigned on the cynical political calculation that Afghanistan was the “good war.” But now that it’s time to send troops into that...

Top Afghan Troop Request
Is 60K—Not 40K

Oct 9, 2009 7:15 AM CDT

Top Afghan Troop Request Is 60K—Not 40K

Obama and team meet again today on strategy

(Newser) - The troop requests on the table as President Obama meets with his security team again today are even higher than has been reported: The top option is 60,000, not 40,000, the Wall Street Journal reports, though Gen. McChrystal is backing the middle figure, 40,000. The third and...

Let McChrystal
Make His Case
to Congress

peggy noonan

Oct 9, 2009 1:39 AM CDT

Let McChrystal Make His Case to Congress

National debate is needed to build consensus

(Newser) - President Obama may not want to hear from Gen. Stanley McChrystal, but Congress certainly does, writes Peggy Noonan, and he should let them. Staying on in Afghanistan and withdrawing are both unappealing options that could have dire consequences, and even though the Pentagon doesn't want to do it, the country...

Afghan Rift?
It's Just 'Smoke and Puffery'

OPINION

Oct 8, 2009 12:45 PM CDT

Afghan Rift? It's Just 'Smoke and Puffery'

McCain, others inflate controversy so Obama looks weak: Klein

(Newser) - There’s been much consternation recently about the supposed break between the White House and Stanley McChrystal over strategy in Afghanistan. But it’s really all “smoke and puffery,” a political ruse perpetrated by John McCain and some neocon compatriots, writes Joe Klein in Time. The furor has...

Jones Emerges as Strong Voice
for Obama

Oct 7, 2009 11:00 AM CDT

Jones Emerges as Strong Voice for Obama

National security adviser sheds early uncertainty about role

(Newser) - Jim Jones’ rocky start in the Obama administration as national security adviser now seems like a thing of the past. Where once Jones lamented publicly that he was unsure of his role, he has now settled in as a top administration voice, wielding his four-star clout in the Pentagon and...