Biden Says McChrystal Taunt Not Taken Personally

WASHINGTON -- Vice President Joe Biden says he never viewed ousted Gen. Stanley McChrystal's mocking comment about him as a personal attack -- but rather a reflection of policy disagreements over Afghanistan.

Biden told ABC television's "This Week" that President Barack Obama's decision to fire his military commander in Afghanistan over McChrystal's remarks in Rolling Stone magazine was "the absolutely necessary thing to do." And he said others in the military agreed.

Biden said he was asked to survey six four-star generals to seek their opinions about whether McChrystal should stay or go.

"Every single one said he had to go," Biden said in an interview broadcast Sunday. The six generals included active-duty as well as retired four-stars, he said, but he did not identify them.

Biden said McChrystal viewed him as the "enemy" because he had argued for a strategy "different in degree" from the general's counterinsurgency approach.

McChrystal was quoted in Rolling Stone as joking that he didn't recognize Biden's name.