Stanley McChrystal Heaps Praise On Hillary Clinton

Hillary Clinton keeps getting ringing endorsements -- for her temperament, not a hypothetical presidential campaign -- from high-ranking military men.

Retired Army Gen. Stanley McChrystal was the latest to sing the praises of the former secretary of state on Wednesday morning. The former commander of U.S. Forces in Afghanistan said he had a "great relationship" with Clinton when she was at the State Department.

"I deeply respected her," he told HuffPost Live host Alyona Minkovski. "I knew her slightly when she was a senator, deeply respected her as secretary of state, really enjoyed the partnership we had. So I think that was one of the relationships that I will value forever, the respect I had for her and she had for me."

McChrystal stopped short of praising Clinton's abilities to serve as commander in chief. "I think the people of the United States will make that decision," he said.

But his laudation of Clinton's time at the State Department is something that's been offered by other folks who worked alongside her. The man who preceded McChrystal in Afghanistan and took over the CIA, Gen. David Petraeus, reportedly said Clinton would "make a tremendous president," according to the book "HRC" by Jonathan Allen and Amie Parnes.

"Like a lot of great leaders, her most impressive qualities were most visible during tough times," Petraeus said. "In the wake of the Benghazi attacks, for example, she was extraordinarily resolute, determined, and controlled."

Then there is Robert Gates. The former defense secretary dished in his memoir that Clinton copped to opposing the troop surge in Iraq because of political reasons.

"Hillary told the president that her opposition to the [2007] surge in Iraq had been political because she was facing him in the Iowa primary," he wrote.

But Gates also was, at times, reverential toward Clinton.

"I found her smart, idealistic but pragmatic, tough-minded, indefatigable, funny, a very valuable colleague, and a superb representative of the United States all over the world," Gates wrote.