perocity
06-25-2010, 08:30 AM
Taliban endorses General Petraeus, say new US Afghanistan war chief 'not smarter' than McChrystal
DAILY NEWS WASHINGTON BUREAU
It seems the evildoers were just biding their time to see how the Rolling Stone flap would play out. Now that President Obama has sacked his top war boss in Afghanistan, Army Gen. Stanley McChrystal, and replaced him with Iraq surge hero Gen. David Petraeus, the Taliban has finally weighed in.
Their verdict? The new boss is the same as the old boss. And Petraeus is a wimp, they claimed Thursday.
"(Petraeus) is not smarter than McChrystal," Taliban spokesman Qari Muhammad Ahmed Yusuf said in a statement. "Also, his losing consciousness last week in an investigative hearing before the members of the U.S. Congress brought his physical competence and his courage into question."
That would be a reference to the decorated general fainting briefly during a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing. Petraeus recovered quickly - blaming dehydration and skipping breakfast - but was told to come back the next day to continue his testimony.
"His military standing and his four-star rank greatly waned around the world" after the fainting episode, mocked the Taliban's Yusuf, according to a SITE Intelligence Group translation.
McChrystal's firing by Obama, by the way, was "divine victory," the Taliban mouthpiece added.
The U.S. position differs significantly.
"As I've said before, Gen. Petraeus has already established himself as one of the great battle captains in American military history," Defense Secretary Robert Gates said at the Pentagon today.
As for "divine victory," Gates said McChrystal's downfall doesn't prove disarray within the U.S. military.
"The Taliban would be making a very serious mistake if they thought that, if they drew that conclusion from this," he said.
Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/2010/06/24/2010-06-24_taliban_endorses_general_petraeus_say_new_us_af ghanistan_war_chief_not_smarter_t.html#ixzz0rrq7HP VZ
DAILY NEWS WASHINGTON BUREAU
It seems the evildoers were just biding their time to see how the Rolling Stone flap would play out. Now that President Obama has sacked his top war boss in Afghanistan, Army Gen. Stanley McChrystal, and replaced him with Iraq surge hero Gen. David Petraeus, the Taliban has finally weighed in.
Their verdict? The new boss is the same as the old boss. And Petraeus is a wimp, they claimed Thursday.
"(Petraeus) is not smarter than McChrystal," Taliban spokesman Qari Muhammad Ahmed Yusuf said in a statement. "Also, his losing consciousness last week in an investigative hearing before the members of the U.S. Congress brought his physical competence and his courage into question."
That would be a reference to the decorated general fainting briefly during a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing. Petraeus recovered quickly - blaming dehydration and skipping breakfast - but was told to come back the next day to continue his testimony.
"His military standing and his four-star rank greatly waned around the world" after the fainting episode, mocked the Taliban's Yusuf, according to a SITE Intelligence Group translation.
McChrystal's firing by Obama, by the way, was "divine victory," the Taliban mouthpiece added.
The U.S. position differs significantly.
"As I've said before, Gen. Petraeus has already established himself as one of the great battle captains in American military history," Defense Secretary Robert Gates said at the Pentagon today.
As for "divine victory," Gates said McChrystal's downfall doesn't prove disarray within the U.S. military.
"The Taliban would be making a very serious mistake if they thought that, if they drew that conclusion from this," he said.
Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/2010/06/24/2010-06-24_taliban_endorses_general_petraeus_say_new_us_af ghanistan_war_chief_not_smarter_t.html#ixzz0rrq7HP VZ