Barack Obama will confront General Stanley McChrystal at the White House tomorrow as he decides whether to sack the commander of US and Nato forces in Afghanistan over disparaging and "contemptuous" remarks about senior administration officials, including the president himself.
The White House said "all options are on the table" after an "angry" Obama summoned McChrystal to Washington to explain quotes in the latest edition of Rolling Stone magazine in which the general and his senior aides accuse the US ambassador to Kabul of undermining the war, call the president's national security adviser "a joke" and mock Joe Biden, the vice-president. There is also indirect criticism of the president himself as "uncomfortable and intimidated" by senior military officials.
The White House spokesman, Robert Gibbs, declined to give assurances about McChrystal's position at a press conference today. He said US efforts in Afghanistan were bigger than one person and McChrystal was not indispensable. Gibbs added: "Without a doubt, General McChrystal has made an enormous mistake." The US defence secretary, Robert Gates, also condemned McChrystal, saying he "made a significant mistake and exercised poor judgment".
The general apologised in person and by phone to some of those criticised and issued a statement admitting "a mistake reflecting poor judgment". "I have enormous respect and admiration for President Obama and his national security team," McChrystal said.
But it is not clear whether that will be enough to save McChrystal's job after what is the latest of a series of political blunders.
A leading Democratic member of Congress, Dave Obey, chairman of the House appropriations committee, called for him to be sacked. But the general had the backing of the Afghan president, Hamid Karzai, who said he "strongly supports General McChrystal and his strategy in Afghanistan and believes he is the best commander the United States has sent to Afghanistan over the last nine years".
