Top Choices for McChrystal's Job

With Gen. Stanley McChrystal looking like a goner, attention has turned to the Afghanistan commander's possible replacements. Marine Gen. James Mattis and Marine Lt. Gen. John Allen appear to be frontrunners, though Thomas Ricks notes in Foreign Policy that Mattis, ironically, "has a reputation... for speaking a little too bluntly in public about things like killing people."

Army Lt. David Rodriguez, currently McChrystal's No. 2 in Afghanistan, is another top choice, and David Wood writes on Politics Daily that choosing Rodriguez would "enable a seamless transition of command, while it would take either Mattis or Allen some months to settle in with their own battle staffs." Ricks suggests a "whole new team in Afghanistan"—one headed by Gen. David Petraeus, for whom McChrystal's job would be a step down in the echelon.
(More Stanley McChrystal stories.)