As many conservatives have been urging, Sens. Joe Lieberman, John McCain, and Lindsey Graham are imploring Obama to dump the incompetent civilian team in Afghanistan:
“The civilian side, in my view, is completely dysfunctional,” said Graham.
Lieberman said the magazine article “revealed what we have known, that there is not the kind of unity in Afghanistan between our civilian and military leadership” that is necessary.
Though none of the senators would name specific civilian leaders who should be replaced, McCain suggested “re-uniting the Crocker-Petraeus team,” a reference to former U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker, who served in Baghdad while Petraeus headed up military operations in the country.
It’s going to be hard to make the argument that only the general should change. Petraeus, because of his accomplishment in Iraq, is uniquely situated to give unvarnished advice to Obama and make clear what he needs to achieve victory. In this relationship, Obama needs Petraeus more than Petraeus needs this job.
But alas, Lindsey Graham can never pass up an opportunity to burnish his image with the media, often at the expense of others. He feels it necessary to toss this in:
Graham had particularly harsh words for the other military officers quoted in the piece. “You let yourself and your Army down,” he said. “The language you used, the cavalier attitude, the disrespect … was unacceptable. This was a low point, in my view, for the armed forces in a very long time.”
Oh, good grief. First, it’s not necessary to emphasize that several officers behaved poorly; I think we all got this. And in the grand scheme of things, it’s not the worst thing to happen in the military “in a very long time.” This is a rare instance when it’s worth following Obama’s example. He gave a classy speech in announcing the change from McChrystal to Petraeus and left out the recriminations. Graham should have done the same.