“After arriving in Afghanistan last June [2009], the general [Commander of U.S. and NATO Forces in Afghanistan Stanley McChrystal] conducted his own policy review, ordered up by Defense Secretary Robert Gates. The now-infamous report [released on August 30, 2009] was leaked to the press, and its conclusion was dire: If we didn’t send another 40,000 troops–swelling the number of U.S. forces in Afghanistan by nearly half–we were in danger of ‘mission failure.’ The White House was furious. McChrystal, they felt, was trying to bully Obama, opening him up to charges of being weak on national security unless he did what the general wanted.”
– Michael Hastings, “The Runaway General,” Rolling Stone, July 8-22, 2010