Peter Fuller removed from duty as a top Afghanistan commander for remarks to POLITICO

Major Gen. Peter Fuller, a top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, was relieved of his duties Friday after comments he made to POLITICO disparaging Afghan President Hamid Karzai and calling the government’s leaders “isolated from reality.”

Gen. John Allen, commander of NATO forces in Afghanistan, ousted Fuller following what the coalition called his “inappropriate public comments.”

“These unfortunate comments are neither indicative of our current solid relationship with the government of Afghanistan, its leadership, or our joint commitment to prevail here in Afghanistan,” Allen said in a statement.

“The Afghan people are an honorable people, and comments such as these will not keep us from accomplishing our most critical and shared mission — bringing about a stable, peaceful and prosperous Afghanistan,” he added.

Fuller was the deputy commander of the NATO Training Mission in Afghanistan and responsible for training Afghan security forces.

In a Thursday interview with POLITICO, Fuller, a two-star general, slammed Karzai’s recent remark that Afghanistan would side with Pakistan in a war against the U.S., blasting the president’s comments as “erratic,” and adding, “Why don’t you just poke me in the eye with a needle! You’ve got to be kidding me. … I’m sorry, we just gave you $11.6 billion and now you’re telling me, ‘I don’t really care?’”

God love those who are willing to put their careers on the line for those who they command on the field.

That’s what it is...he is protecting his troops.

Two words...Allen West.

I hate to think what the military will become, especially if the Super Duper committee doesn’t reach an agreement.

I hate to think what will become of all of us if they do...

I am an Engineer officer with 17 years of service currently deployed in Afghanistan. My mission here is to construct infrastructure for the Afghan Army and police. MG Fuller wasn’t in my chain of command, but he did control the program (meaning money and policy implementation) that I work and I have spent time with him. I can state unequivocally that everything he said in his interview is true. I am outraged that he was fired for his comments. It seriously has me questioning whether I can continue to serve.

I expect politicians to act the way GEN Allen did, but not my generals. Candor is a key trait of being a good officer and MG Fuller expressed candor without embellishment. MG Fuller is the most thoughtful general officer I have ever had the pleasure of serving with. He doesn’t open his mouth until he knows what he is speaking about. He may have spoken out of turn, but it wasn’t a firing offense. If the administration and GEN Allen had any sense, they would have turned it into an opportunity to put the heat on Karzai, otherwise known as “The Mayor of Kabul”, which in turn would have allowed me to turn up the heat on the local Afghan commanders. Firing him sends entirely the wrong message to these people.

For a good idea of what is really happening over here with our tax dollars, visit http://afghanright.wordpress.com. It is a blog maintained by a good friend and one of the officers I work with here.

We are wasting our treasure in Afghanistan on people who don’t appreciate it and only want to get as much as they can from us before we take our toys and go home. They destroy everything we give them and then come back and ask for more. Most times I am forced to give it to them. It’s wrong and the American people need to know.

I would very much like to see public backlash for this decision, but I am not in a position to lead such a charge. Although I never post, I have visited this site often since my uncle told me about it in 2004 when he posted a letter I wrote to him from Iraq. This has compelled me to post.

My request to the Freepers from a career American Soldier is that one or more of you go after this and make it an issue.

How is it that we’ve allowed ourselves to be turned into a politically correct state where diplomats and leadership feel compelled to fire competent military officers for accurate statements about the failures of leaders of other nations, but they don’t fire those who failed to competently react and defend us on 9-11.

Major heads should have rolled on 9-12 and beyond because of the abject failure of many in government to do their job and defend the nation, and that then resulted in multiple wars and loss of our liberties. Nobody paid then. Why is Fuller paying now?

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