On the defenestration of Gen. McKiernan in Afghanistan

I've seen you use the word "defenestration" twice recently. It wasn't in the context of GEN Casey the first time.

When a General is asked to resign instead of being fired extortion is being used by the firing agent. It would be better if the General was removed or rotated out.

Resignations are for when the General voluntary removes him or herself because there is a belief that the policy is wrong, the acts are criminal or when it is believed that the General is by his or her own estimate miscast.

Resignations to stop rendition, unconstitutional actions, torture and other practices would indicate that backbone existed within the bodies that fill out expensive uniforms in the case of the Navy or Marine Corps or Air Force or faded pajamas and ugg boots in the case of the Army with the exception of General Petraeus who hasn't forgotten how to dress properly.

Resignations at the direction of someone else indicates pliability or a desire to be cast in the next performance of "Darkness at Noon" should Cheney return to power.

GEN Casey got promoted, the Post quotes Sec. Gates as saying that this 'probably' means GEN McKiernan's career is over.

Two probabilities: 1). McKiernan was not doing a stellar job, not delivering the goods and so goes for that — McChrystal is a member of the current inner circle and so gets the nod; 2). the main-force vs COIN debate is settled, the straight-leg main-force guy out, a snake-eater in.

The musings about going big, involving still more countries, starting the draft, and somehow turning this into another Iraq-like hunt for the Middle East's Holy Grail are a bit overwrought. There is NO military strategy that can solve Afghanistan/Pakistan. Augment a solution, yes, and here the snake-eaters have the better story. But war is still an extension of politics by other means: absent an overarching political strategy, victory (however defined) will remain MIA.

I'm surprised that no one has brought up the fact that this change removes a Cold War era armor officer in favor of an officer who is intimately familiar with asymetric warfare and interagency coordination.

Ah, a new general. The key to success! It's like going to the movies and hoping for a good usher. Our Middle East mess was created by political failure, Barbara Bush's little Georgie its poster boy. It gets un-messed in the political sphere and all the refinement of military leadership will be for naught absent complementary advances in the diplomatic sphere.

That said, the demise of an armor guy adds fuel to the notion that the traditional Army of record (think Tommy Franks) has been strategically bankrupt since the beginning of the Cold War, multiplying its sins by institutionally stifling special forces at every available opportunity. Watching trees grow in the Fulda Gap is no substitute for learning the craft on the enemy's terms ... and neither Iraq nor Afghanistan-to-date can be seen as Army successes. We have not gotten our money's worth and a lot of kids have died because of poor generalship in the Middle East. The best of luck to McChrystal and Rodriguez.