“In that showdown nearly six decades ago, President Truman and his advisers were preparing to engage North Korea and China in peace negotiations when MacArthur, commander of the U.N. forces in Korea, issued an unauthorized statement containing a veiled threat to expand the war into China. MacArthur was playing a back-channel game to win the support of like-minded Republican congressmen to expand the war, but Truman faced him down. With the support of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, as well as the Secretaries of State and Defense, Truman rose to the occasion and fired the distinguished ‘old soldier.’ Today, Gen. McChrystal is conducting a subtler but equally insubordinate campaign for a wider war in Afghanistan, with the backing of CENTCOM commander David Petraeus.” (11/21/09)