The president’s relief of Gen. Stanley McChrystal, America’s former theater commander in Afghanistan, was simultaneously unfortunate and necessary.

President Obama usually governs as an ideologue for whom the Constitution is negotiable, but in this case, he got it exactly right: the American system demands absolute civilian control of our military, and it falls upon the president to enforce that. Though the now-infamous Rolling Stone article only contains arguable evidence of Gen. McChrystal’s insubordination, it indisputably shows that he tolerated a command atmosphere in which his subordinates felt free to disparage and deride their lawful civilian superiors. This isn’t just a violation of UCMJ Article 88 — it’s a challenge to our Constitutional system.

Gen. McChrystal bears direct responsibility for the conditions of his command, and he suffered a just penalty for it.

Now that Gen. McChrystal is relieved, we must turn to the questions raised by the Rolling Stone piece, and by the president’s war leadership in general. How did the military chain of command in Afghanistan come to lose confidence in the civilian leadership? Comparison is made to the conflict between Gen. Douglas MacArthur and President Harry Truman, but that was at bottom a substantive policy dispute. Gen. McChrystal, by contrast, got most of what he wanted from the president in the policy sphere.

If McChrystal bears responsibility for his own command atmosphere, then the dysfunctional relationship between him, the U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan Karl Eikenberry, the president’s Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan Richard Holbrooke, and Vice President Joe Biden are the president’s responsibility. One the basic principles of war that every U.S. Army officer learns is the need for unity of command. President Obama hasn’t established that in Afghanistan. It’s time he did.

America’s war in Afghanistan is a war worth fighting — and winning. The president has announced that Gen. David Petraeus is to leave Central Command and return to theater command as McChrystal’s replacement. President Obama has reconstituted President George W. Bush’s winning warfighting leadership, from Defense Secretary Robert Gates to Petraeus, he now needs to provide clear strategic guidance and leadership — the men and women in harm’s way deserve nothing less.

Assemblyman Chuck DeVore, R-Irvine, served in the California Army National Guard, retiring with the rank of lieutenant colonel.

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