WASHINGTON,  (Reuters) – President Barack Obama said  he would decide whether to fire the top U.S. general in  Afghanistan after they meet today, citing Stanley  McChrystal’s “poor judgment” in an article that mocked Obama’s  senior advisers.

The decision is fraught with risk for Obama, who faces the  difficult choice of shaking up command of an unpopular and  costly war just six months after ordering 30,000 more troops  into the fight against the Taliban.

McChrystal, the U.S. and NATO commander in Afghanistan and  architect of Obama’s war strategy, was summoned back to  Washington to explain his “enormous mistake” to the president,  the White House said. Obama’s spokesman said “all options were on the table” but  the president stressed he wanted to speak to McChrystal first.

“I think it is clear that the article in which he and his  team appear showed poor judgment … but I also want to make  sure I talk to him directly before I make any final decision,”  said Obama, speaking to reporters after a cabinet meeting.

U.S. officials said they expected McChrystal to offer his  resignation and allow Obama to decide whether to accept it.     The 55-year-old commander has apologized for the article in  Rolling Stone magazine, which quotes his aides calling one top  Obama official a “clown” and another a “wounded animal.”

In the article “The Runaway General” —  http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/17390/119236 —  McChrystal himself makes belittling remarks about Vice  President Joe Biden and the U.S. special envoy to Afghanistan  and Pakistan, Richard Holbrooke.

McChrystal’s departure would add to already growing  uncertainty about the course of the nine-year-war just one year  after his predecessor, General David McKiernan, was pushed out  of the same job. The controversy could also weaken Obama, either making him  look soft on insubordination if he lets McChrystal stay or  potentially irresponsible if he fires the top general leading  an already difficult war effort.

“The White House has to make it pretty tough on  (McChrystal) because he was clearly insubordinate. Then they  have to decide what to do with him,” said a senior Obama  administration official. “It’s a real dilemma.”

White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said Obama became  “angry” when he saw the article, due to be published in Rolling  Stone on Friday.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates said McChrystal had “made a  significant mistake and exercised poor judgment.” Admiral Mike  Mullen, who as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff is the top  U.S. military officer, expressed his “deep disappointment.”McChrystal, in an apparent attempt to save his job, reached  out to Gates and other officials to say he was sorry.

“It was a mistake reflecting poor judgment and should never  have happened,” McChrystal said in a statement. Lawmakers were split over whether he might have to go, with  most leaving the decision to Obama.

“Everyone needs to take a deep breath and give the  president and his national security team the space to decide  what is in the best interest of our mission,” said Senator John  Kerry, a leading Democrat who is close to Obama.

REPLACEMENTS?

Defense officials say they have confidence that a suitable  replacement could be found for McChrystal if he is fired. Possible successors include Lieutenant-General David  Rodriguez, who is now McChrystal’s No. 2; Lieutenant-General  William Caldwell, who runs the NATO training mission for Afghan  forces; and General James Mattis, the commander of U.S. Joint  Forces Command.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai fully backed McChrystal and  “believes he is the best commander the United States has sent  to Afghanistan over the last nine years,” a spokesman said.

The Rolling Stone article, which quoted several McChrystal  aides anonymously, portrays a split between the U.S. military  and Obama’s advisers at an extremely sensitive moment for the  Pentagon, which is fending off criticism of its strategy to  turn around the Afghan war. “It certainly isn’t going to help relations between the  White House and this building,” one defense official said. The article quotes a member of McChrystal’s team making  jokes about Biden, who was seen as critical of the general’s  efforts to escalate the conflict and who had favoured a more  limited counter-terrorism approach.

“Biden?” the aide was quoted as saying. “Did you say: Bite  me?”

McChrystal himself quipped: “Are you asking about Vice  President Biden?”

“Who’s that?” he asked.

He also belittled Holbrooke. One aide said McChrystal had  compared the special envoy to a “wounded animal.” “Oh, not another e-mail from Holbrooke,” McChrystal groaned  while checking his BlackBerry during a trip to Paris, according  to the magazine. “I don’t even want to open it.”

“CLOWN” STUCK

IN 1985

One of McChrystal’s aides called White House National  Security Adviser Jim Jones, a retired four-star general, a  “clown” who was “stuck in 1985.” The article also quoted an adviser to McChrystal dismissing  an early meeting with Obama as a “10-minute photo op.”

“Obama clearly didn’t know anything about him, who he was.  Here’s the guy who’s going to run his (expletive) war, but he  didn’t seem very engaged,” the adviser told the magazine. “The  boss was pretty disappointed.”

The White House, asked about whether Obama was in fact  disengaged, said McChrystal would have Obama’s undivided  attention on Wednesday.

“I think anybody that reads that article understands …  what an enormous mistake this was, given the fact that mothers  and fathers all over this country are sending their children  halfway across the world to participate in this,” Gibbs said.

He added that parents of troops needed to know their  military was “capable and mature enough.”

“I think that is one of the things that the president will  look to discuss tomorrow,” he said.