INTERNATIONAL: "Switch Signals New Path for Afghan War," by Eric Schmitt and Mark Mazzetti, New York Times, 13 May 2009.

McKiernan was traditional armor, and McChrystal is the supreme SOF manhunter.

McKiernan saw it coming, telling staff in recent weeks that he had lost the confidence of his superiors in the Pentagon.

I will go with Jack Reed (my old senator) on this one, because he knows first hand instead of speculating from afar: "This is less about General McKiernan than it is about a new counterinsurgency strategy and a new leadership to reinvigorate that strategy."