Goodbye M4

TF Biometrics came into town to meet with LTG Yarmand on a few issues so Jeff and I drove them over to MOI. Here is a picture of Yarmand looking a bit outnumbered by U.S. advisers.



In the evening we had a going away party for the COL that runs my directorate. Here is a picture of Perez wondering how many goodbye speeches are going to be made.



We also spent a while talking about McCrystal's resignation. We all read the Rolling Stone article and thought it was pretty funny. McCrystal (M4) is fairly dead-on with his comments, although it's also true that as a General he relinquishes the right to speak openly about the failures of his superiors. M4 is fairly well liked out here; we'll be sad to see him go. Petraeus is very popular also so that won't be an issue. However, it's the wrong thing to do to have asked Petraeus to accept an effective demotion. That was purely a political move to stem criticism of the administration's failures. It is not a reflection of the weakness of other generals in theater that could have been promoted, but rather a reflection of the political vulnerability of the administration to further criticism.