McCain to Press for Petraeus and McChrystal to Testify
Reiterating his criticism of the Obama administration’s hesitation to request more troops for the war in Afghanistan, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) said Wednesday that he will introduce a Sense of the Senate resolution this week asking Gens. David Petraeus and Stanley McChrystal to testify before Congress. The resolution, which will be offered to the Defense appropriations bill, comes after Senate Armed Services Chairman Carl Levin (D-Mich.) rebuffed McCain’s call for the two military leaders to appear before the panel to discuss the administration’s strategy for defeating al-Qaida and the Taliban in Afghanistan. House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) and Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) both have called for Petraeus, the head of U.S. Central Command, and McChrystal, the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, to appear before Congress to determine whether additional troops are needed in Afghanistan, a region the United States has occupied for eight years. McCain similarly urged Petraeus to appear on Capitol Hill in 2007 in a series of high-profile hearings leading up to the surge of U.S. forces in Iraq.