His top civilian communications official, Duncan Boothby, resigned Tuesday, according to one official close to McChrystal.
Boothby is well known in Kabul and Washington and has a reputation for helping tell McChrystal’s story and the story of the strategy in Afghanistan. His aggressive outreach efforts were seen by many to be appropriate at a time when the public is either ambivalent or wary of the war.
Boothby worked for Adm. Greg Smith, a two-star, the highest public affairs officer ever in a war zone. Smith accepted Boothby’s resignation after reaction emerged to the article, according to the official.
The McChrystal controversy comes amid an intensified debate in Washington about the way ahead in Afghanistan. Although the strategy of sending an additional 30,000 troops is not yet fully underway – all the troops aren’t on the ground yet – new questions have been raised about the effectiveness of Obama’s strategy.
(no link)
Former weapons inspector Derek Boothby explains UN to residents
Greenwich Post (CT) - Thursday, February 3, 2005
Author: Kristina Berlin Staff Reporter
Derek Boothby , a Britishborn employee of the United Nations, was on hand last Wednesday night to explain what KofiAnnan’s son was really doing with that money from the Swiss company Cotecna Inspection S.A. and what the UN was really doing in Iraq .
Mr. Bootby said that Kojo Annan was actually employed by the company for the value of his contacts in Africa, where he grew up. Furthermore, Kojo had left the company one month before it had become involved in the Oil for Food Program, inspecting freight shipments going into Iraq on behalf of the program. The company then began paying him not to share his expertise with anyone else, though Kojo was not active anymore within the company. In essence, what to some was an international scandal was to Mr. Bootby a case of a son forgetting to tell his dad he was earning some cash.
Mr. Boothby began working for the United Nations after a stint in the Royal Navy, and continued to do so for 20 years. Even after retiring once, he returned in June of last year to serve on the Iraq Operation Group, a committee that operationalizes directives from Kofi Annan, the secretary general of the United Nations.
(snip)
He said he believed that the decision of the U.S. to invade Iraq without being provoked by an actual armed attack was wrong and sends a bad message to other countries who might want to invade places too, such as China with Taiwan.
Because the UN charter states invasion should only occur after armed attack, he believes the UN should not be in Iraq today at all.
“I can tell you personally I don’t think the UN should be there, but the fact is we’ve been told to be there,” he said.
He addressed the differences in perception of the UN in countries that need its help versus countries like the United States. Most U.S. citizens don’t think about it often that the UN takes care of international mail and air traffic.
“Frankly the UN is much more of a hindrance to U.S. policy than a benefit,” he said, and added the third world thinks the UN is in the pocket of the U.S..
(snip)