David Petraeus collapses

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DIGG/BUZZ IT U

POLITICO 4

Gen. David Petraeus collapsed in his chair under intense questioning from the leaders of the Senate Armed Services Committee Tuesday about his support for the administration’s planned timeline for withdraw from Afghanistan.

Petraeus, the commander of U.S. Central Command, was immediately surrounded by advisors including Michele Flournoy, the Pentagon’s deputy under secretary for policy, who was testifying with him.

Petraeus is known for his superior fitness level; he was escorted out of the hearing room, pale and looking downward.

Several minutes later, Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.) returned to the room to say that Petraeus was feeling much better and probably just didn’t drink enough water before coming to the hearing. The hearing was later postponed until Wednesday.

Petraeus’s collapse came just as Levin and Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) had wrapped up a pointed round of questions about his support for the president's plan to start withdrawing troops from Afghanistan in July 2011.

At the hearing’s outset, McCain called the current situation in Afghanistan possibly a “mounting crisis,” and he called on the president to scrap his current timetable for withdraw.

“It’s time for the president to state unequivocally that we will stay in Afghanistan until we succeed,” McCain said.

In questioning Petraeus, McCain zeroed in on an Oval Office exchange from Jonathan Alter’s recent book, “The Promise,” that describes the tussle between the military and the White House over changin the Afghan strategy.

President Obama reportedly told Petraeus, “If you can’t do the things, say, in 18 months, then no one is going to suggest we stay.”

While Petraeus said he would not comment on executive office conversations, he remained adamant that the current situation in Afghanistan today is not what it may be in a year and that he supports the president’s policy.

Levin had previously drilled into the question of timelines, following up on Petraeus’s response that he supports the president’s time line to ask, “is that your best personal, professional judgment?”

“Uh,” the general said, pausing for a moment, “In a perfect world, Mr. Chairman, we have to be very careful with timelines. We went through this in Iraq as you recall, and I did set a timeline ultimately in Iraq … based on a projection of conditions that would be established,” Petraeus said. “We are assuming that we will have those kinds of conditions that would enable that by July 2011. That is what is projected And that is again what we have supported.”

“Is that a qualified yes, a qualified no, or a non-answer?” Levin asked.

“A qualified yes,” said the general.