US General Ousted After Dissing Karzai

One of the highest-ranking US commanders in Afghanistan didn't get that Stanley McChrystal memo about watching your tongue in the presence of reporters. Major Gen. Peter Fuller has been relieved of command after bad-mouthing Hamid Karzai and other Afghan leaders, reports CNN. Fuller made the comments in this Politico interview yesterday. Some choice highlights:

• Karzai: In response to the Afghan leader's comments about siding with Pakistan over the US: "Why don’t you just poke me in the eye with a needle! You’ve got to be kidding me. … I’m sorry, we just gave you $11.6 billion and now you’re telling me, ‘I don’t really care?'"
• Karzai II: In the next Afghan election, "you hope they get a guy that's more articulate in public."

• On Afghan generals: “I said, ‘You guys are isolated from reality," in regard to the US and world economy. "If you’re in a very poor country like Afghanistan, you think that America has roads paved in gold, everybody lives in Hollywood. They don’t understand the sacrifices that America is making to provide for their security."
• On Afghan leaders in general: “You can teach a man how to fish, or you can give them a fish. We’re giving them fish while they’re learning, and they want more fish! (They say,) ‘I like swordfish, how come you’re giving me cod?’ Guess what? Cod’s on the menu today.”

(More Afghanistan war stories.)