Republican lawmaker says he was denied access to McChrystal

A Republican member on the House Armed Services Committee is claiming he was denied access to Gen. Stanley McChrystal on a recent fact-finding trip to Afghanistan.

Rep. Jeff Miller’s (R-Fla.) accusation comes as President Barack Obama is close to announcing whether he will endorse McChrystal's recommendation of sending about 40,000 additional troops to the war-torn country.

Since McChrystal's proposed solution to the escalating conflict in Afghanistan was leaked to the media in late September, some Republicans have grumbled that the Defense Department has curbed McChrystal's availability to lawmakers who support his request for more reinforcements.

Miller, who sits on both the Armed Services panel and the Intelligence Committee, told The Hill that the Pentagon denied his request for a meeting with the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan.

The top-ranking Republican on the Intelligence oversight subcommittee was in Afghanistan in mid-October.

“I wasn’t allowed to [meet with him]. I was there for four days, asked to meet with Gen. McChrystal and was told I couldn’t, although Sen. [Daniel] Inouye [D-Hawaii] met with him and Sen. John Kerry [D-Mass.] met with him,” Miller said in an interview.

Miller, who is serving his fifth term, stressed that McChrystal was in Afghanistan when he was there.

“I said I’d meet with him anywhere,” Miller said, sarcastically adding, “that’s OK … I’m just on HASC [the House Armed Services Committee] and Intel.”

His colleague, Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.), the chairwoman of the Intelligence oversight subcommittee, led the delegation. As the lead lawmaker on the congressional delegation trip, or codel, it was her responsibility to formally make the request.

Though Miller concedes that Schakowsky asked for meetings, she wasn’t as “insistent” as he would have liked.

“I really wanted to meet with McChrystal,” Miller said.

Schakowsky’s office did not respond to a request for comment for this article.

The Illinois lawmaker is leading an investigation into whether the George W. Bush administration fully informed lawmakers with security clearances of "significant intelligence activities."

According to Miller's office, the codel spent time in Kabul and Kandahar, but the official purpose of the Intelligence Committee trip is classified.

Miller is not the only Republican who is frustrated with regard to securing access to McChrystal. Rep. Duncan Hunter (Calif.), who served in both the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, did not meet with McChrystal during a brief fact-finding visit.

Hunter was more conciliatory than Miller about not having face-time with the commander on the ground because his trip coincided with a visit by Central Command head Gen. David Petraeus and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton.

The freshman, whose father used to chair the Armed Services Committee, was one of the first House lawmakers to ask the White House to allow McChrystal to testify to Congress on his request for 40,000 additional troops.

Liberal Democrats, notably Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), have suggested that the country can't stomach sending additional forces to the region.

Over two months ago, House Armed Services Chairman Ike Skelton (D-Mo.) asked for McChrystal to appear before the committee.

That request was echoed by top GOP leaders in the House and Senate.

Asked on Saturday whether the Defense Department purposefully decided not to allow McChrystal to meet with House GOP lawmakers, Skelton said he had not heard of the accusation, but indicated he would check into the matter.

The White House and the Department of Defense did not comment for this article.

Skelton is in the minority of House Democrats who fully support McChrystal’s request for what some have called a second “surge,” similar to the strategy executed by Petraeus in Iraq.

Republicans, including Senate Minority Whip Jon Kyl (Ariz.), have made clear that they would support the president if he asks for resources to fund a strategy. They have also warned they may not support any troop request that is fewer than 40,000 troops.

While House Republicans have not recently met with McChrystal, GOP senators have been granted access to the general over the past few weeks. Sens. Richard Burr (R-N.C.), George LeMieux (R-Fla.) and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) sat down with McChrystal on their recent trip to the country.