Gen. Stanley McChrystal relieved of command in Afghanistan

A day after word spread about Gen. Stanley McChrystal being ordered to Washington to answer questions about insubordinate comments he and his staff made in a Rolling Stone Magazine article, the commander who had once said he could win the Afghanistan War, was relieved of his command of U.S. and N.A.T.O troops in the country.

President Obama said that McChrystal's remarks about administration officials "undermines the civilian control of the military that is at the core of our democratic system."

Obama has since named Gen. David Petraeus, the Central Command chief, to fill in for the lose-lip general. He also urged the Senate to confirm Petraeus quickly and reinforced that the change in command would not disrupt the Afghanistan strategy.

This wasn't the first time McChrystal locked horns with the Obama administration. He publicly shot-down a strategy based on fewer troops by Vice President Joe Biden last winter, causing him to be reprimanded by President Obama. McChrystal has also been very pushy with the administration as he made public comments that were aimed at pressuring President Obama into deciding on implementing a surge in Afghanistan, which he later did. McChyrstal was also surrounded by controversy in 2004, after he was accused of a cover up in the "friendly-fire" death of former NFL football player, Pat Tillman, by the soldier's mother  If you ask me it was only a matter of time before McChrystal or one of his staff members put their foot in their mouth around a reporter. And with all the baggage surrounding McChrystal, not to mention his blatant disobedience to civilian rule of the military, which has kept us free since our founding while other democratic nations have fallen under dictatorial rule, I think it was the right move for not only the administration but the war. It also didn't hurt President Obama to use the opportunity to flex his power as Commander-in-Chief.

While McChrystal's controversial comments about the administration left no other decision but for the commander to be relieved of his duty, I think any one can sympathize with a guy who talked shit about his boss, considering we all do it at one time or another. But this is not a private work place, this is the military. For this is a man commanding a war and we can accept nothing less than the utmost integrity and loyalty out of the man in charge of our troops in battle.

While the current strategy in Afghanistan was McChrystal's, Petraeus is a brilliant choice by the president, considering the universal respect he garners from both Republicans and Democrats. But while Petreaus is certainly the right choice to replace McChrystal as the commanding officer in the war, we are kidding ourselves if we actually think our country can win this war - for it's time to bring our troops home. And while that is not going to happen until at least July of 2011, this incident, if nothing else, has caused American's, and possibly the government, to refocus our attention on the war and our strategy moving forward.