This is a dicey one, because there must be dissent within the war council and any administration, but it is clear that public ridicule of one’s bosses is not the best way to get your point across. In any case, this was not about the conduct of the war — which is, in many ways, a Gen. McChrystal production — but about the president asserting his authority.
The saddest part of this mess, however, is this:
Mr. Obama stressed that the change in leadership did not signal a shift in his overall war strategy in Afghanistan, where thousands of new American troop levels have been arriving in recent months among increasing casualties and growing questions about the progress of the war.
“It is a change in personnel, but it is not a change in policy,” Mr. Obama said.
In the end, this is the real issue. We need a change in strategy — i.e., we need to get out. The Afghanistan war has been a disaster and will remain so. Our best hope for stabilizing the region is to leave.
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Hank Kalet 
Amen to leaving both Afghanistan and Iraq. Supposedly we will be leaving Iraq and reducing forces in Afghanistan in 2011 or did I get that wrong? It doesn't appear to be very likely at this point.Just a small fraction of the American populace is sacrificing and suffering as a result of the two wars. The rest of us are relatively untouched and clueless. Not to mention the suffering of innocent victims of collateral damage in Afghanistan and Iraq. Billions of dollars of borrowed money every month for death and destruction but American public schools, Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, pish posh, they must be cut to balance the budget. It's appalling and sickening beyond human belief.