***McChrystal's meeting with Obama is over.***

[dgibby]

CNN just showed McChrystal leaving WH. Meeting lasted approx 20min.
Results of meeting unknown at present.


(My guess: the ranks of the unemployed just increased by one.)

[saltpoint]

1. Seems like it was kind of a brief meeting.

Twenty minutes is barely enough time to pour coffee.

[rsmith6621]

2. Sip Coffee If Your From Seattle

[saltpoint]

6. Those Seattle people know how to make coffee.

Bless 'em all.

[Subdivisions]

3. For such a short meeting, McChrystal is probably out. BREAKING: McChrystal will not

meet with national security team - per MSNBC.

[backscatter712]

5. Yep. Looks like he's been canned.

Of course, the Beltway rumor machine being what it is, we could be wrong, but if he's not showing up at the national security meeting later today, he's out.

[Subdivisions]

8. I was wondering how that would work. The media was saying he was

to meet with the national security team after his meeting with President, as if that would be the case even if McFizzle is fired. I would think that if McFizzle was fired, he would not be allowed into the national security meeting in the Situation Room.

[lonestarnot]

7. Tee hee.

[MichiganVote]

4. Sounds like he didn't even make it to the woodshed door.

[dgibby]

9. If he has been canned,

his deputy is a British officer, who would assume interim command. Interesting.(per MSNBC)

[Jennicut]

10. That is one short meeting. Not enough time to really get into any major discussions on Afghanistan.

I may be wrong, but that sounds like a brief, please hand in your resignation type of meeting.

[WeDidIt]

11. I'm hoping he was only relieved of command

but no resignation of his commission was accepted.

stick him behind a desk in the Pentagon where he can keep his mouth shut.

[MineralMan]

12. President Obama:

"Look, Stan. You're not too bad a General, but you don't get to dis the Commander-in-Chief the way you did. Turn your resignation in to Gates as soon as you leave. Now, I have things to do. You can stay and finish your coffee. When you're done, this Marine will show you out."

It may have gone something like that...

[H2O Man]

13. I think that he

wants to spend more time with his family.

[mopinko]

24. and i hope that he has a very large family

full of psychopaths like him.

[rocktivity]

14. He was there only twenty minutes? He's as gone as pet rocks and the macarena.

That's barely enough time to hand his resignation and pick up his final paycheck!

:evilgrin:
rocktivity

[spanone]

15. it's 100% speculation news right now....no facts are known

but this never stops the media from guessing the outcome

[JBoy]

16. General, we're gonna need you to move your desk downstairs into Storage B...

[MineralMan]

20. Mmmm, yeah...

[DearAbby]

25. Ummm yeah riiiight

:spray:

[blogslut]

17. Yeah, I think McChrystal is gone

The way he got into that car after his meeting with Obama, looked like the dude was in the kind of shock one feels after they've been given very bad news.

[JCMach1]

18. Maybe he got busted a star and done!

[seafan]

19. Remove this rogue from endangering our troops and undermining our civilian leadership.

General Stanley McChrystal arrives at the White House in Washington June 23, 2010. U.S. President Barack Obama will confront McChrystal, his top Afghanistan commander, before deciding whether to fire him over inflammatory comments that have angered the White House and threaten to undermine the war effort. (Reuters)

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, Gen. Stanley McChrystal, has left the White House after a roughly 30-minute meeting with President Barack Obama on Wednesday.

Reuters

From First Read at MSNBC:

Domenico Montanaro writes: NBC's Athena Jones reports that Gen. McChrystal arrived at the White House at around 9:40 am, about 15 minutes after Vice President Biden.

Nobody knows yet if President Obama will relieve the general of his duties, but NBC's Courtney Kube reports on some of the potential replacement names floating around the Pentagon -- if Obama does decide to go that route. Even if the president does not decide to let him go, this could be an important group of people to keep an eye on going forward.

Here are a few possible replacements for General McChrystal that have been floating around the Pentagon this morning:

Three top options:

General James Mattis, Marine Corps, Commander of Joint Forces Command
- General Odierno has been nominated to replace Mattis, but, obviously, has not yet. Mattis was on the very short list to be the next Commandant of the Marine Corps, but was passed over for General Amos several days ago.

Lieutenant General David Rodriguez, Army, Commander International Security Assistance Force Joint Command
- He's one of McChrystal's closest advisers and colleagues, and took the helm as the first Commander of IJC last fall. He's also been the Deputy Commander of US Forces Afghanistan since March. He was Gates' senior military assistant before that and was known to have a very good relationship with Gates.

NOTE: If McChrystal resigns, Rodriguez will likely serve as the interim commander of ISAF, regardless of who's selected.

Martin Dempsey, Army, Commander of U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC)
- He and General Petraeus have been ships passing in the night for the past several years -- Dempsey served as Acting Commander of CENTCOM for about 6 months in 2008, before Petraeus took the helm. He also took over the police training mission in Iraq from Petraeus in 2007. He's well-respected and was rumored as a name to take the mission last year before McChrystal got the job.


Other possibles (less likely):
Lieutenant General Bill Caldwell, Army, Commander of the NATO Training Mission in Afghanistan
- He just took the helm of training the Afghan Security Forces, which is considered a critical mission in Afghanistan, so he's not likely to be pulled out. That being said, he is well-respected and has done multiple deployments to both Iraq and Afghanistan, including one year as the spokesperson for Multi-National Forces in Iraq (in other words, he is comfortable with the media).

General Walter "Skip" Sharp, Army, Commander of US Forces Korea
- He's got about 40 years service in the military, has deployed to every major conflict since Bosnia, and even served as Director of the Joint Staff.

NBC's Savannah Guthrie and Chuck Todd report Obama is expected to speak on camera here at the White House after his 11:35 am meeting with his national security team. No time given yet.

Kube also reports that a senior Pentagon official says he expects the president to make a statement about McChrystal early this afternoon.

And we await word.

[chelsea0011]

21. Has he made a statement yet saying all the civilians were quaking in their boots at

the sight of all his medals?

[Xenotime]

22. Good to see the pull out from Afghanistan has started early.

[Warpy]

23. I would not want to face a seriously pissed off Obama

I think he gets angry like I do, only with extreme provocation and when it happens, someone will get hurt.

If McChrystal managed to keep his job, he knows who the boss is.

[newspeak]

26. Now the difference between * letting go those generals and McChrystal

being let go--those experienced generals that * and Rummy let go gave their military opinion about invading Iraq or how to proceed. They did not "diss" *-they professionally disagreed with the junta's plans. McChrystal disrespected the office of the presidency, as well as, the vice presidency. * letting go experienced military leaders for disagreeing with their plans is like Hitler not listening to his generals. Obama gave McCrystal what he wanted-more troops on the ground and his counter insurgency plan. McChrystal thanked him by "disrespecting the office."

[grahamhgreen]

27. Does this mean we can leave Iraqistan now?

[dgibby]

28. No, we've always been at war with Eastasia. n/t

[hvn_nbr_2]

29. If McC were staying on the job, they'd have more to talk about than 20 minutes. nt

[mmonk]

30. Adios war criminal.

One more ugly face of American imperialism gone. Time to put a real soldier General in command. Our troops deserve it.