TIME TO PACK – AT 6:32 A.M. ET:  It is hard to know what some people are thinking when they start talking.  From Fox:

The top U.S. war commander in Afghanistan apologized Tuesday for an interview in which he said he felt betrayed by the man the White House chose to be his diplomatic partner, Ambassador Karl Eikenberry.

The article in this week's issue of Rolling Stone depicts Gen. Stanley McChrystal as a lone wolf on the outs with many important figures in the Obama administration and unable to convince even some of his own soldiers that his strategy can win the war.

In Kabul on Tuesday, McChrystal issued a statement saying: "I extend my sincerest apology for this profile. It was a mistake reflecting poor judgment and should never have happened."

In Rolling Stone, McChrystal is described by an aide as "disappointed" in his first Oval Office meeting with an unprepared President Barack Obama. The article says that although McChrystal voted for Obama, the two failed to connect from the start. Obama called McChrystal on the carpet last fall for speaking too bluntly about his desire for more troops.

And it gets more juicy:

Asked by the Rolling Stone reporter about what he now feels of the war strategy advocated by Biden last fall – fewer troops, more drone attacks – McChrystal and his aides reportedly attempted to come up with a good one-liner to dismiss the question. "Are you asking about Vice President Biden?" McChrystal reportedly joked. "Who's that?"

Biden initially opposed McChrystal's proposal for additional forces last year. He favored a narrower focus on hunting terrorists.

"Biden?" one aide was quoted as saying. "Did you say: Bite me?"

Another aide reportedly called White House National Security Adviser Jim Jones, a retired four star general, a "clown" who was "stuck in 1985."

Some of the strongest criticism, however, was reserved for Richard Holbrooke, Obama's special envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan.

"The boss says he's like a wounded animal," one of the general's aides was quoted as saying. "Holbrooke keeps hearing rumors that he's going to get fired, so that makes him dangerous."

COMMENT:  Well, what can one say?  Douglas MacArthur, who wore five stars and who'd accepted the Japanese surrender aboard USS Missouri in 1945, was ousted as commander of UN forces by President Truman during the Korean War, for making public statements questioning American policy.

MacArthur was vastly more popular than the little-known Stan McChrystal, and his firing unleashed an outpouring of near-hatred toward Mr. Truman, who'd made exactly the right call.  MacArthur had clearly been insubordinate.  (Within a year most Americans started to agree with Truman as a result of some of MacArthur's outlandish comments.  Although called "the Republican general," and very much wanting to be president, Mac made virtually no impression at the 1952 GOP convention, which nominated Eisenhower, MacArthur's former aide.)

McChrystal is MacArthur, the smaller sequel.  McChrystal really has to go.  No president, even a very bad one like Obama, can tolerate a general who, with his aides, undermines policy and those making it. 

But will Obama do a Truman?  If McChrystal is smart, he won't give Obama the chance, and will resign.  If McChrystal doesn't take that obvious step, he's in for trouble.  Obama may just keep him on, the better to use him as a whipping boy if we lose in Afghanistan. 

This will be fascinating – to see how Obama handles the situation.  Stand by.

June 22, 2010