June 23rd, 2010
10:19 PM ET

Readers sound off on McChrystal's exit

The decision by President Obama to accept Gen. Stanley McChrystal’s resignation as the top commander in Afghanistan was met with mixed reactions.

Readers have taken to CNN.com expressing their support of and disappointment with the decision.Many comments on the piece about McChrystal’s resignation have come from veterans and current members of the military. A majority of them said they were shocked and embarrassed by McChrystal’s conduct.  One reader, “AFGChuck,” said that the general did not speak his mind or speak the truth.  He goes on to say that McChrystal’s actions were a complete breach of military protocol.

In another article about the controversial remarks, readers with an opposing view felt that McChrystal had a First Amendment right to express himself, and that he shouldn’t have been held accountable for comments made by his aides.

CNN viewers are also sharing their reactions with iReport. Frequent iReporter Liberty1955 said that the situation between Obama and McChrystal mirrored the conflict between President Eisenhower and Gen. Patton during World War II.  He said that McChrystal is a good leader and his apology should have been enough.

EWillies1961 said McChrystal needed to be removed so that President Obama could reassert leadership and reinforce the ideal that civilian and military leadership portray a united front.

CNN will continue following this story and the reactions to the decision.

Tell us what you think.  Record your reaction to today’s decision and share it with CNN.

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Filed under: Afghanistan • Gen. Stanley McChrystal
soundoff (10 Responses)
  1. jason

    i'm glad that the fates of thousands or even millions of human lives are based on rolling stone interviews. it makes me proud to be an american. everyone's retarded.

    June 23, 2010 at 10:57 pm | Report abuse |
  2. larissa

    i'm currently watching charlie rose and eric bates, the rolling stones article author, is on and he's saying that mcchrystal and his aides knew exactly what was going to be published. to me that means mcchrystal KNEW and WANTED to get fired. who would stand for such insubordination? if this is the type of leadership our troops are following, then let's get them out of afghanistan and bring them home so they can be of more use, such as border control.

    June 23, 2010 at 11:27 pm | Report abuse |
  3. Jessica

    I am relieved that the President took the action he did. This sends a message to the Armed Forces that even though there is an Ammendment saying that we have freedom of speech, when you are in the Military you give up that right. When you are in the Military you can not say derogatory things about your leadership publicly and get away with it. I mean these comments came from the same General that told US Forces in Afghanistan to not post anything negative about the President and the war on our Facebook pages. That is what I call a Hypocrite.

    June 24, 2010 at 12:22 am | Report abuse |
  4. John

    General McChrystal seemed to like "rhymimg" and "play on words". Maybe he liked the President's "No Stan..Bye"! The general got what he deserved for poor judgement.

    June 24, 2010 at 1:01 am | Report abuse |
  5. Smith in Oregon

    What is up with the Republican New Right calling Gen. McChrystal a war hero?

    Previously he was taken to the woodshed for caustic comments to his superiors twice which would have busted or court marshaled any Army soldier. He had been abraded by President Obama for insubordination twice before today.

    And WHAT about Stanley McChrystal's role in the torture of Iraqi POW's who were Iraqi national combatants which the courts have ruled was illegal torture? There is little doubt that he was deeply involved in one of the worst torture outfits in Iraq, Camp "Nama", a well used acronym for "Nasty Ass Military Area".

    At least two POW's were tortured to death, many of the torture sessions allegedly went far beyond the brief descriptions from Bush-Cheney. Interrogations using Power drills, Frozen to death, Constant Beatings and Applying air conditioning to frozen prisoners seems to have been 'routine'.

    And WHAT about Stanely McChrystal's role in the abu ghraib dungeons? Even thou the Red Cross was fully aware of the tortures in NAMA, a colonel at the torture center told them that he 'had this directly from General McChrystal and the Pentagon that there's no way that the Red Cross would be allowed in'.'This facility was completely closed off to anybody investigating. Even Army investigators.'

    Why would the Pentagon push a director of extreme Black Op's out of his dark cubicle after Five Years into the arms of President Obama so that Barack Obama would appoint someone whose line of command made him directly responsible for a place that made Abu Ghraib look like a child's daycare center?

    General Stanley McChrystal oversaw one of the sickest most perverted torture dungeons in all of Iraq and yet the Republican-Tea Potty leaders are calling that man a 'war hero' ??

    June 24, 2010 at 2:03 am | Report abuse |
  6. adnan

    Get to know all abut U.S reports, Taliban, latest updates, shocking news all at one place...

    http://usreportsties.blogspot.com/

    June 24, 2010 at 3:05 am | Report abuse |
  7. Jeffrey Holmes

    I think that the Top Generals in todays US Army and militery need to vent there frustrations some where in some kind of civil language like the rest of us do... The militery trains it men and women to act approporitly and to speak with proper language... It is unfortunate that the mild negative opinions of the militery was taken sorely when the Whole USA is critisizen president Oboma with much much more harsh language for the way the president has preformed in everyway....Take a good look at the daily news reports then judge the general....!!!

    June 24, 2010 at 8:03 am | Report abuse |
  8. JomoDaMusicMan

    The main problem, most of the military leaders are Right Wing Racist Republicans, They are Tea Baggers who supports Chaney, Bush and Rush. They cannot stand the thought that their Commanding Officer is a BLACK MAN. These people think that OBAMA does not have the balls to be a disciplinarian, especially to white officers

    June 24, 2010 at 8:59 am | Report abuse |
  9. Spencer J. and Pamela T. Atkinson, PFTLD

    The day General McChrystal resigned there was an earthquake which shook the northeast coast from Canada to West Virginia, this was God's way of saying that General McChrystal and his staff had good reason to make the comments that they made and good reason not to be concerned about those comments being heard by the public. Perhaps they know they are fighting a losing battle under the leadership of the Obama Administration that never mentions the word victory or speak of winning the war in Afghanistan.

    June 24, 2010 at 5:55 pm | Report abuse |
  10. adnan

    Get to know all about U.S reports,Taliban, shocking news, latest updates, all at one place
    http://usreportsties.blogspot.com/

    June 25, 2010 at 3:56 am | Report abuse |
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