General Peter Fuller was recently fired for saying, among other things, that the Afghan government was "isolated from reality." Carl Prine blasts the Army's decision:
The man charged with arming and training hundreds of thousands of Afghan security forces told a representative of the free press, asking a question crucial to our democracy's public debate about the war, that Afghan leaders are corrupt and incompetent; they fail to understand their own ability to sustain their armed forces; they don't see the economic problems roiling the U.S. and our European allies; and the kleptocracy of jug-eared thief Hamid Karzai shows no thanks for the ongoing sacrifice of our troops and taxpayers on their behalf…Fuller revealed a sincere response to a simple question and by so doing represented everything that officers are taught to hold dear in their careers – honesty, integrity, personal courage and moral steadfastness.
Hitch is on a similar page. Joshua Foust counters:
The problem with defending Fuller's remarks … is two-fold: they were not only an inaccurate description and analysis of the politics of Afghanistan, but they actively undermined the U.S. mission and strategy. Far from being a "truth-teller," Gen. Fuller made a serious error of judgment, both in how he understood Afghanistan and how he chose to express that understanding.
Prine, for his part, doubles down. Michael Cohen mostly takes Prine's side. Tom Ricks compiles a list for future generals of things you can't say in public about Afghanistan.
The Dish 