THE TIMES: General David Petraeus, America’s best-known military commander, collapsed while giving testimony on the campaign in Afghanistan to a Senate hearing.
His face turned deathly white and his head fell forward on to the desk in front of him just as he was being closely questioned during a hearing of the Senate Armed Services Committee about President Obama’s decision to start withdrawing US troops from Afghanistan.
General Petraeus — commander of US Central Command which is responsible for both Afghanistan and Iraq — recently had treatment for prostate cancer but had insisted he was fully healthy. He is fanatical about his health and runs every day.
His sudden collapse, which brought his staff rushing to his side, came after he was being questioned by Senator John McCain, the former Republican presidential candidate and a Vietnam veteran, who had given grave warnings about the “negative trends” in Afghanistan.
He decried Mr Obama’s “arbitary” timetable for starting to withdaw US troops in July next year which, he claimed, had sent the wrong signal to Kabul. It was this timeline, he said, which he believed had persuaded President Karzai that the US wanted to get out of Afghanistan and had begun to refocus his efforts towards an accommodation with the Taleban and Pakistan’s military.
“It’s time for the President to say unequivocally that we will stay in Afghanistan until we succeed,” Mr McCain said. Read on and comment >>> Michael Evans, Pentagon Correspondent | Tuesday, June 15, 2010
