By: Abby Phillip, Politico
July 4th, 2010
Reps. John Boccieri (D-Ohio), Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.) and Mike Coffman (R-Colo.) — all veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan – expressed some skepticism Sunday that conditions are improving in Afghanistan as Gen. David Patraeus has indicated.
Coffman said that Petraeus’s statement to Congress doesn’t match up with his assessment of how the U.S. is doing in Afghanistan.
“General Petraeus is trying to put a positive spin on it because he needs the support of Congress. He needs Congress to pass a war supplemental so they can continue with the operations,” Coffman said. “I think that there’s a gap between what Petraeus is saying and what is going on the ground.”
Chiming in, Hunter suggested hat Gen. Stanley McChrystal’s strategy on the ground was insufficient to deal with the insurgency.
“McChrystal didn’t kill enough bad guys, frankly,” Coffman said. “We didn’t go in hard and heavy like we did in Iraq in the Anbar Province and I think that came back to bite us. Because as soon as we moved out the enemy came right back in again.”
