Give McChrystal a Fighting Chance

The 30-minute ride from Forward Operating Base Shank, occupied by the 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division, is nerve-wracking. This is Logar Province, an area of central Afghanistan that has been the staging ground for major suicide-bomber attacks into Kabul, 45 miles to the north. U.S. troops trying to clear Logar and neighboring Wardak Province since this summer have encountered numerous IEDs--some of them large enough to penetrate even the most heavily armored vehicles. One such blast back in August killed a 22-year-old soldier and seriously injured CBS News correspondent Cami McCormick. As we bounce along the narrow dirt road, the driver of our MRAP (Mine Resistant Ambush Protected) vehicle is clearly nervous. When we pass over a culvert, which insurgents are known to pack with explosives, he mutters, "I hate those f--ing IED holes."