Exiting Afghanistan--By Winning

Lefties and the media are ecstatic over President Obama's firing General Stanley McChrystal following the Rolling Stone "suicide by interview" where the General slammed Administration officials including the Vice President. I'm pleased too--though not for the same reasons.

Almost exactly a year ago, I opposed McChrystal's new rules of engagement (ROE) for coalition forces in Afghanistan. Those policies put American soldiers in danger, imperiling morale, while excusing terrorist transgressions of international law--which increased the risk of Taliban war crimes against civilians. And it limited deployment to areas already terrorist-free. In short, McChrystal's ROE didn't work.

The incoming commander in Afghanistan, David Petraeus, will review McChrystal's ROE. He is expected to give coalition forces more freedom to respond to terrorist attacks--though the President pretends otherwise.

This leads liberal New York Times columnist Bob Herbert to renew the call for withdrawing from Afghanistan. It makes me more committed to staying, if necessary, beyond Obama's deadline. Though I doubt that was the message Rolling Stone intended to convey.