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...reminded FlyBy of info session food a bit too much (yeah, not a pleasant flashback). And the bump-n-grind area? Solid. Relatively unpopulated for most of the time, DJ Straus kept everyone's body movin' with some sweet mixes for most of the night. But as the general gripe with DJ Straus goes: the attendants craved classics to sing along to as the night came to a close...and DJ Straus refused to deliver. No big loss though...
Public beheadings in Afghanistan are usually associated with the Taliban, but on Monday it was Defense Secretary Robert Gates metaphorically wielding the ax from the Pentagon platform. Gates announced that he had asked for and received the resignation of his top commander in Afghanistan, Army General David McKiernan, after McKiernan spent only 11 months in that theater. The 37-year veteran will be replaced by Army Lieut. General Stanley McChrystal. Army Lieut. General David Rodriguez, the Defense Secretary's own top military aide, is to serve in a newly created post as McChrystal's deputy...
...another dose of accountability from Gates, who has previously cashiered officers for failing to tend to hospitalized troops or to secure nuclear weapons. But Monday's action was more momentous: it marked the first time a civilian has fired a wartime commander since President Harry Truman ousted General Douglas MacArthur in 1951 for questioning Truman's Korean War strategy. (See pictures of U.S. troops fighting in Afghanistan...
...wheel-spinning, even as the Taliban extended its reach, and that there was not enough of the "new thinking" as demanded by Gates. "It's time for new leadership and fresh eyes," Gates said, refusing to elaborate. He noted that Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman Admiral Mike Mullen and General David Petraeus, who as chief of U.S. Central Command oversees the Afghanistan war, both endorsed the move. Officers typically serve about 24 months in the slot, meaning McKiernan served less than half his expected tour...
...Gates took pains on Monday to avoid criticizing McKiernan. He told the four-star general that his Army career was effectively over during a face-to-face meeting in Afghanistan last week. "This was a kick in the teeth, but McKiernan took it extraordinarily well," a senior Pentagon official said. Other military officials were less courteous. "I still can't figure out why they put an armored guy with no Afghan experience in charge," one said. A second senior official said, "Dave McKiernan is clearly part of the Army's old guard - he led troops in [1991's] Desert Storm...