WASHINGTON — Arkansas’ only living four-star general, Wesley Clark, and members of the state’s congressional delegation saluted President Barack Obama’s decision Wednesday to name Gen. David Petraeus to oversee the Afghan war, a move that came after ousting Gen. Stanley McChrystal for crossing what Clark called “a line you can’t cross.”
McChrystal and unidentified aides were quoted in a magazine criticizing the president.
Clark, who served as supreme allied commander Europe for NATO, called the episode a “personal tragedy” for McChrystal and his family. But he said Obama had to dismiss the fellow four-star general.
“This was a line you can’t cross,” Clark said after the change of command.
As a general, Clark said, “you don’t have to explain to the press where you have disagreements or not,” with civilian leadership: “That’s not part of your job.” What is part of the job, he continued, is to “give your candid and unvarnished advice to your superiors.”
If a disagreement comes up, he added, “you have to salute and say, ‘Yes, sir,’ and do it - or resign.”
Though Clark cautioned that a change in leadership is always difficult, he called Petraeus - another fellow four-star general - “the one person who has the experience at this level to be able to step in and keep the momentum and strategy intact.”
“Gen. Petraeus will bring his considerable experience in dealing with the political and military problems in Iraq and put them into play in Afghanistan and be able to do it in a more direct way in this position than when he was McChrystal’s boss,” Clark said.
Those comments based on Clark’s military experience paralleled the comments of Arkansas’ members of Congress. The delegation - five Democrats and one Republican - was unified in its disappointment with the inflammatory public remarks from McChrystal and his military staff that were critical of Obama and his wartime advisers.
Democratic Rep. Vic Snyder, a former Marine, praised the president for a “strong speech” that “got right to the heart of the issue. These really stupid comments from Gen. McChrystal and his staff go right to the heart of civilian control of the military, but also what the president calls unity of effort.”
The selection of Petraeus, who stood alongside the president during his comments in the Rose Garden, should go a along way toward alleviating concerns about whether the command change will disrupt the war effort, Snyder said.
“He’s excellent and everybody knows he’s excellent,” Snyder said. “That takes away some of the anxiety.”
Democratic Sen. Blanche Lincoln issued a statement saying she supported the president’s decision, adding that Petraeus “certainly has the experience and ability to command our military efforts in Afghanistan and I’m confident he will honorably and skillfully serve our nation in this new role.”
Democratic Sen. Mark Pryor agreed, issuing a statement saying he has “full confidence” in Petraeus, who has “a proven track record on counterinsurgency efforts that I believe will benefit our effort in Afghanistan and help provide cohesiveness from the troops on the ground to the top brass.”
During a telephone conference call with reporters Wednesday morning, Pryor said McChrystal’s comments were inappropriate.
“When you have one of your leading generals saying things like he did ... it has a chance of fracturing the cohesiveness of the effort,” Pryor said. “Basically, if you have infighting at the top, you know it’s eventually going to have adverse effects for our troops on the ground.”
“It’s very difficult because Afghanistan is a very important mission for the United States right now,” he said. “On the one hand, you don’t want to change leadership. But on the other hand, you may have to just to get this behind usand get some fresh blood in there and try to have a better relationship between our primary general in Afghanistan and our leadership here in Washington.”
Snyder - a Vietnam veteran who serves on both the House Armed Services and Veterans Affairs committees - called the comments by McChrystal and the general’s aides “very unprofessional.”
The remarks showed “incredible disloyalty,” Snyder added.
After the president’s announcement, Democratic Rep. Marion Berry said Obama had little choice but to fire McChrystal.
“Gen. McChrystal could have hardly expected anything else,” Berry said. “Even if you think those things about your boss, you don’t put them in the paper.”
While the situation is “justone more difficulty that the country’s going to have to deal with,” he said Petraeus would bring “credentials that I don’t think anybody else in the world has.”
Rep. John Boozman, the state’s only Republican member of Congress, issued a statement saying he was “disappointed” by the comments from McChrystal and his staff.
“While the general and his subordinates may have legitimate concerns regarding ongoing operations, our strategy, and the amount of support they are receiving from Washington, it is inappropriate for Gen. McChrystal to air his grievances the way that he did,” Boozman said. “We cannot let this distract from maintaining our unity of purpose in defeating al-Qaeda and the Taliban.”
Democratic Rep. Mike Ross also supported the president. In a statement, he said Obama “made the correct decision for our mission in Afghanistan and for our Armed Forces.”
Front Section, Pages 5 on 06/24/2010