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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.
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.
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.
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