10:16 AM, JUN 23, 2011 • BY WILLIAM KRISTO
THE WEEKLY STANDARD
THE WEEKLY STANDARD
Here’s a startling excerpt from the prepared testimony of Admiral Michael Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who is testifying this morning in front of the House Armed Services Committee: “I would prefer not to discuss the specifics of the private advice I rendered with respect to these decisions. As I said, I support them. What I can tell you is, the President’s decisions are more aggressive and incur more risk than I was originally prepared to accept.”
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Kristol: ‘Troop Deployment Schedule Is Being Determined by David Axelrod, Not by David Petraeus’
12:06 PM, JUN 23, 2011 • BY DANIEL HALPER
The boss blasted President Obama’s plan to withdraw troops from Afghanistan a couple minutes ago on Fox News. “Most strikingly,” Bill Kristol said, “was the president's announcement about the September 2012 deadline: cutting the fighting season in half next year and really putting at risk our achievements in Afghanistan. I mean, it is really remarkable when our troop deployment schedule is being determined by David Axelrod, not by David Petraeus.”
Kristol went on to say that “[President Obama] could have given the commanders, General Petraeus and the other commanders on the ground, what we need to make Afghanistan much more likely be a success.… I think it's very bad for the country and heralds a very difficult next year and a half.”
Here’s video:
