Stanley McChrystal: "The raid on Osama bin Laden's compound in Pakistan took extraordinary courage not only from the service members who carried it out, but from the "decision makers" behind the operation, the former top U.S. commander in Afghanistan said Monday.
"Think of what would have happened if the mission had not been successful, and all of the second-guessing that would have happened," Ret. Gen. Stanley McChrystal told a meeting of the American Iron and Steel Institute in Colorado Springs.
"This mission sends a message about our will to stand up for what is right."
McChrystal was removed last summer as U.S. commander in Afghanistan after he was quoted in a Rolling Stone magazine profile as criticizing the Obama administration. A Pentagon inquiry cleared him of wrongdoing last month. The magazine has said it stands by its story.
McChrystal said Bin Laden's death shows al-Qaida is vulnerable, but he added parts of al-Qaida will use the raid as a "cause to go after something."
He also warned against the "temptation to think who is next to kill."
"You can't kill everybody, and it becomes a never-ending" cycle of retaliation, he said in remarks reported by The Gazette of Colorado Springs.
McChrystal emphasized he was not aware of any details of the raid. He did describe the extensive planning needed for similar operations.
"You pull together a story on what the target needs to live, the security and privacy needs, and use that in your planning. In this case, it took almost a decade to put it all together," McChrystal said.
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