Plop, Plop, Fizz, Fizz…. [Updated Below]

General Stanley McChrystal has been relieved of his command of the ATO by the Anti-President and General Petraeus will be taking his place.

It was the right thing to do, in my opinion, for reasons explained here.

Instead of providing a quote from King Barack The Unready, I think it better for the sake of my reader’s health [blood pressure] that I instead provide you all with Stacy McCain’s accurate summary:

Blahblahblah “Pock-ee-stahn” blahblahblah “grateful for sacrifice” blahblahblah . . .

That covers it all — believe me.

UPDATE at 1713…

-Stacy McCain has a damn fine aggregation of links going on this issue that he’s been updating quite frequently.  It’s so good, he’s earned both an Instalanche and an Attila-lanche!  He also provides a spot-on analysis of the major problem we face in the ATO.  A highlight:

…Afghanistan lacks sufficient human resources to support civil society and generate economic prosperity.

In other words: It’s Detroit.

If Petraeus can win this one, he’ll go from hero to legend.

It is, indeed, just like Detroit in many ways.  As for General Petraeus: he’s become the Dirty Harry of the 21st Century [‘All the dirty jobs’].

-Check out DaTechguy’s analysis here.

-Over at Legal Insurrection, William Jacobson has published a fine assessment of the bigger picture [although I don’;t agree with him on his analysis of the Rolling Stone article’s importance].  A highlight:

The McChrystal discharge, even if you believe it was warranted on the merits, reflects a deeper problem of a Commander in Chief who has not earned the respect of the military at a crucial time in the Afghanistan war.

Brave soldiers will die because the man-child in The White House is not qualified to be CINC and thinks he is.

-The best analysis I’ve read so far has come from veteran Lipton T. Bagg.  I would recommend you read the whole of his commentary [also, check out the discussion he and John Doe are having in the Comments Section], but here is a highlight:

IMHO, McChrystals greatest tactical blunder is speaking his mind for a dumb-ass liberal wonk rag like Rolling Stone which would never give account for “this is how military guys speak privately” and filter accordingly. Today’s MSM in general looks for the dirty laundry – the killer sound byte – instead of the depth of the story. Being a reasonably good tactician, McChrystal should have known he was exposing himself and his team to a PR flanking maneuver. Even if he is correct (which by all accounts he is) their snarks should have remained behind closed doors and in privileged company. And in the end, such open disrespect weakens morale and military discipline. It cannot be allowed. Showing public disdain for the chain-of-command would get a private or sergeant UCMJ punishment. Like crooked politicians, Generals cannot be “above the law”.

Every point there is right on the mark.