By Bill O'Reilly
In a stunning development, the commander in Afghanistan, Gen. Stanley McChrystal, is being called back to Washington because of an article in Rolling Stone magazine.
In the piece, an unnamed aide to McChrystal briefly disparages President Obama, saying he was unprepared in an Afghan briefing. Another unidentified aide mocks Vice President Biden, who publicly disagrees with McChrystal's Afghan strategy.
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In my opinion, the article is tepid, not explosive at all. Nevertheless, the president is angry.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERT GIBBS, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: I gave him the article last night, and he was angry.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How so?
GIBBS: Angry. You would know it if you saw it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is McChrystal's job safe?
GIBBS: We'll have more to say after that meeting.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Does the president still have confidence that Gen. McChrystal can run this war?
GIBBS: We should wait and see what the outcome of that meeting is.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
There's only one time Gen. McChrystal is quoted bad-mouthing someone in the article. He mocks Richard Holbrooke, a presidential adviser. All the other stuff is allegedly from his aides.
I say allegedly because Rolling Stone did a piece on me a few years ago, and it was a total hatchet job. The writer, John Colapinto, was flat-out dishonest.
The writer of this article, Michael Hastings, has a long left-wing history, so let the reader beware.
However, to be fair to Rolling Stone, Gen. McChrystal has not denied anything in the article. So we'll have to wait to see what the general says when he meets with President Obama.
Of course, the situation is just awful. We have Americans dying in Afghanistan and now the commander there is on the carpet because of Rolling Stone? Are you kidding me? Our military in the field cannot afford this chaos.
But as bad as the Afghan situation is becoming, the overall picture for the United States is getting worse by the day as well. Oil spill, chaos; border with Mexico, chaos; economy, shaky. And now this mess in Afghanistan.
This is the low point for the Obama administration. Right now, today, on almost every front things are going badly. Is it all the president's fault? No. But plenty of it is.
The Afghan war is a complicated and brutal undertaking. The USA and NATO are basically trying to convince a primitive country to act in a humane way, to reject terrorism and corruption, and the brutality of women.
And we can't even fight the war aggressively for fear of civilian casualties. Remember: The Taliban wear no uniforms. They hide behind women and children.
If the president thinks McChrystal is not doing a good job, get him out of there. But if he thinks he is doing a good job, scold him and send him back to the theater. You can't be sacking a general in the middle of a war for a stupid article.
And that's "The Memo."
Pinheads & Patriots
Baby boomer favorites James Taylor and Carole King are on tour this summer, and they're packing them in.
If you buy a VIP ticket to the concert, some of that money goes to help the environment. So far the pair has donated $1.5 million to green causes, so they are patriots.
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On the pinhead front, Kevin Costner says he can help clean up the oil slick, and that would be patriotic.
Apparently, Costner has developed some kind of machine that sucks up oil or something. However, we've been trying to get Costner on this program for about a month and he's dodging us, but at the same time giving all kinds of publicity for his apparent concern.
So my question is this: If you want to really help there, Kevin, why don't you come on the program that everybody watches and make your case?
It doesn't make sense, so I'm putting Mr. Costner in the pinhead category unless he can clarify what the heck he's doing. Not sour grapes, but a guy getting this kind of publicity should be a stand-up guy.
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