The New Republic

That Post article today isn't the only sign of impatience within the military brass over Afghanistan troop levels. Over the weekend McClatchy's Nancy Youssef, whose sources have been rumbling this way for a couple of weeks, advanced that narrative a remarkable step further:

In Kabul, some members of McChrystal's staff said they don't understand why Obama called Afghanistan a "war of necessity" but still hasn't given them the resources they need to turn things around quickly.

Three officers at the Pentagon and in Kabul told McClatchy Newspapers that the McChrystal they know would resign before he would stand behind a faltering policy that he thought would endanger his forces or the strategy.

"Yes, he'll be a good soldier, but he will only go so far," a senior official in Kabul said. "He'll hold his ground. He's not going to bend to political pressure."

Talk like this sounds awfully premature; even if Obama holds back on the troops, I'd be astonished to see McChrystal actually leave. But the fact that presumably credible military men--Youssef is a solid reporter with good sources--are talking this way is awfully revealing.

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