[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 137 (Friday, September 25, 2009)]
[House]
[Page H9981]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                           AFGHAN ASSESSMENT

  (Mr. COFFMAN of Colorado asked and was given permission to address 
the House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. COFFMAN of Colorado. Mr. Speaker, in 2007, the Commander in 
Chief, President George W. Bush, relied on his military commander on 
the ground to give him an assessment as to what it would take to turn 
around what was then a very bad situation in Iraq. General Petraeus 
made his case before the House and Senate Armed Services Committees, 
and he was given the resources that he requested. The surge in Iraq 
provided the necessary level of security that ultimately allowed the 
political process there to move forward.
  Similarly, General Stanley McChrystal has been charged by the 
Commander in Chief, President Barack Obama, to give an assessment of 
what it will take to win in Afghanistan and achieve the objectives that 
the President had committed to earlier this year.
  I believe General McChrystal's report was politically sanitized and 
General McChrystal needs to appear before the House and Senate Armed 
Services Committees to give an honest assessment of what is going on in 
Afghanistan.

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