i like to begin this morning by also saying a few words about general stan mcchrystal, someone i of known and admired for nearly 30 years. general mcchrystal devoted his entire professional life to the defense of this nation, and he and his family have made enormous personal sacrifices. during his lengthy deployments of the past nine years in particular. his contribution during that time were very significant. i can attest for the success of the surge in iraq, it would not have been possible without general mcchrystal's exceptional leadership of our forces there. similarly, the development of the joint special operations command during his on president tenure commanding it was extraordinary as well. most importantly, he has made enormous contributions in leading the coalition in denver in afghanistan over the past year. during that time, he brought impressive vision, energy, and expertise to the effort there. he made a huge contribution to the reorientation of our strategy and was a central figure in our effort to get the input right in afghanistan, to build the organizations needed to ca

i like to begin this morning by also saying a few words about general stan mcchrystal, someone of known and admired for nearly 30 years. general mcchrystal devoted his entire professional life to the defenseof this nation, and he and his family have made enormous personal sacrifices. during his lengthy deployments of the past nine years in particular. his contribution during that time were very significant. i can attest for the success of the surge in iraq, it would not have be possible without general mcchrystal's exceptional leadership of our forces there. similarly, the development of the joint special operations command during his on president tenure commanding it was extraordinary as well. most importantly, he has made enormous contributions in leading the coalition in denver in afghanistan over the past year. during that time, he brought impressive vision, energy, and expertise to the efft there. he made a huge contribution to the reorientation of our strategy and was a central figure in our effort to get the input right in afghanistan, to build the organizations needed to carry o

stan mcchrystal has always shown great courtesy and carried out my orders faithfully.t great admiration for him and for his long record of service in uniform. >> larry: joining us, ari fleisher, former white house spokesman. pete hesef is president of vets for freedom. he's an iraqi war veteran. peter barnhart is the author of theic russ syndrome, a history of american hubris. and john saltz returns, co-founder and chair of vets.org. he served as a captain during operation iraqi freedom. staying with us from kabul is "rolling stone's" michael hastings who wrote that bombshell article about general mcchrystal what will be everywhere friday. what do you make of these developments? >> shocking. it's an end to a good career. the president did the right thing. you cannot have the military do that. in fairness, it was mostly his aides. that doesn't get the general off the hook. larry, the big question i have is who in the world approved michael getting this interview? and, you know, things like this aren't just the general's people out in the field. people at the pentagon ha

how would also like to say a few words about general stan mcchrystal, someone i have known and admiredor nearly 30 years. general mcchrystal has devoted his entire professional life to the defense of this nation and he and his family have made enormous personal sacrifices during his lengthy to appointments over the past nine years in particular. his contributions during that time were very significant. i can attest, for example, that the success of the surge in iraq would not have been possible without jennifer -- without general mcchrystal's on exceptional leadership of the forces there. similarly, the joint operations command and is the unprecedented tenured command of j. stock was extraordinary as well. during that time, he brought impressive vision, energy and expertise to the effort there. he made a huge contribution to the reorientation of hours strategy and was a central figure in our efforts to get the inputs right in afghanistan, to build the organization said, needed to carry out a comprehensive counterinsurgency campaign, to get the rights leaders in charge of those orders -

. >> knowing david petraeus, i think, like stan mcchrystal, in this respect, he's just a good soldier. and if the president looks him square in the eye and says, "i need to take this job" you don't set conditions. >> ifill: but he looks the president straight in the eye and says, "i believe in your counter-insurgency strategy. i just don't think you're allowing enough time for it." >> that's exactly what he would say to him and the question is what's going on inside the head of president obama's. >> ifill: do you think it can work the counter-insurgency strategy? is it the the right strategy? >> i don't think the time is simply the issue. i think the core of the counter-insurgency strategy is you have a domestic partner, and i don't think this is at all like iraq. and, you know, in a way the oil spill has obscured how important and how badly things are going there-- which not to mean that you quit. but there is not the same kind of preexisting institutional base, governmental base, or anything, in afghanistan that there was in iraq. so that's the core of the problem with the strategy.

stan mcchrystal has always shown great courtesy and carried out my orders faithfully. i have got great admiration for him and for as long record of service in uniform. over the last nine years, with americans fighting wars in iraq and afghanistan, he has earned a reputation as one of our nation's finest soldiers. the reputation is founded upon his extraordinary dedication, his deep intelligence, and his love of country. i have relied on his service, particularly in helping to design and lead our new strategy in afghanistan. so all americans should be grateful for general mcchrystal's remarkable career in uniform. but war is bigger than any one man or woman, whether a private, a general, or president. and as difficult as it is to lose general mcchrystal, i believe that it is the right decision for our national security. the conduct represented in the recently published article does not meet the standard that should be set by a commanding general. it undermines the civilian control of the military that is at the core of our democratic system. and it erodes the trust that

stan mcchrystal as always carried out on orders fatefully. i have got great admiration for him and for his long record of service in uniform. over the last nine years, with america fighting wars in iraq and afghanistan, he has earned a reputation as one of our nation's finest soldiers. that reputation is founded on his extraordinary dedication, his deep intelligence, and his love of country. i have relied on his service, particularly in helping to design and lead the new strategy in afghanistan, so all americans should be grateful for general mcchrystal's career in uniform, but war is bigger than any one man or woman, whether a general, and private, or a president. as difficult as it is to lose jenna mcchrystal, i believe it is the right thing to do. the conduct in the recently published article does not meet the standard that should be set by commanding general. it undermines the civilian control of the military that is at the core of our democratic system, and it erodes the trust that is necessary for our team to work together, and my multi

stan mcchrystal has always shown great personal courtesy and carried out my orders faithfully. i have great admiration for him and for his long record of service in uniform. over the last nine years with america fighting wars in iraq and afghanistan he has earned a reputation as one of our nation's finest soldiers. that reputation is founded upon his extraordinary dedication to by his deep intelligence, and his love of country. i have relied on his service, particularly in helping to lead in afghanistan. all americans should be grateful for general mcchrystal's remarkable career in uniform. but war is bigger than any one man or woman, whether a private, a general, or a president. as difficult because it is to lose general mcchrystal, i believe it is the right decision for our national security. the conduct represented in the recently published article does not need the standard that should be stick -- should be set by a commanding general. it undermines the control of the military that is at the core of our democratic system. and if he rose the trust necessary for our team -- i

obviously, by -- i knew stan mcchrystal for one-year and i knew about the combat in iraq. i understood what his focus was. this is the reason i recommended him, strongly. and certainly, as i have said earlier, to have responsibility in that regard as well and to understand -- when selected input in this position, there is the expectation in terms of execution across the board and responsibility. i think that he certainly understood all of this and he understands this. and again, this is back to a significant error in judgment, and as far as i am concerned, the appropriate action and the appropriate outcome. >> a couple of big things. what does this say about the strength -- that you could only demote him because he is the only one capable of doing this job. and now you have these men who have been out there in the field for many years, continuously, for more than anyone else. do you need to strengthen the bench, and does he have any flexibility to make any changes

stan mcchrystal has always shown great courtesy and carried out my -- out my orders faithfully. for him and his long record of service in uniform. over the last nine years, with america fighting wars in iraq and afghanistan, he has earned a reputation as one of our nation's finest soldiers. that reputation is founded upon his extraordinary dedication, his deep intelligence, and his love of country. i've relied on his service particularly to design and lead our new gentleman ji -- strategy in afghanistan. all americans should be grateful for general mcchrystal's remarkable career in uniform but war is bigger than any one man or woman, whether a private, a general, or a president. as difficult as it is to lose general mcchrystal, i believe it's the righttdecision for our national security. the conduct represented in the recently published article does not meet the standard that should be set by a commanding general. it undermines the civilian control of the military that is at the core of our democratic system. it erodes he trust that's necessary for our team to work together to a