Full transcript of Petraeus’s answer on Obama’s decision [June 23, 2011]:
I’ll walk through the process since it was quite a substantial one although in a brief period of time included three meetings. After the first meeting I was given a homework assignment which I answered by the second meeting. And then the third meeting was the one in which the president ultimately reached a decision.
The responsibility of a combat commander in that kind of situation is to present options to the president to implement his state policy and that’s what I did. The risk being assessed in this case, from my perspective, the risk having to do with the ability to achieve objectives of the military campaign plan, acknowledging that at every level of the chain of command above me there are additional considerations, and each person above me, all the way up to and including the president has a broader purview and broader considerations that are brought to bear. The president alone [is] in the position of evaluating all those different considerations, including certainly those of the commander on the ground but also many others as well in reaching his decision.
Now as Chairman Mullen, Admiral Mullen, stated today before the House Armed Services Committee, the ultimate decision was a more aggressive formulation, if you will, in terms of the timeline, than what we had recommended. Again, that is understandable in the sense that there are broader considerations beyond just those of a military commander.
The fact is that there has never been a military commander in history who has had all the forces he would like to have. Or all the time. Or all the money. Or all the authorities. Or, nowadays, all the bandwidth.
There is always a process of assessing risk. And it’s typically, in a case like this, as the Chairman put it today, “risk at the margin.” We’re talking about small differences, albeit significant from a military commander point of view.
And so that’s how I would layout the process that took place, the very good discussion, this was indeed vigorous. All voices were heard in the situation room. And ultimately the decision has been made. And with a decision made, obviously I support that. And will do all I can during my remaining time as the commander of ISAF to implement it, set up General Allen to do likewise, so we can achieve the objectives of the campaign plan and then also, if confirmed as the director of the Central Intelligence Agency, to do the same from the position as well.
[WOTN: In short, no, General Petraeus did not recommend these reductions, nor this timeline. He recommended against it. But he is forced to live with it, "to salute smartly" and do the best he can with the few remaining days he has in command, and hope the guy that replaces him can continue the progress he began. So, NO, the POTUS did not follow the recommendations of the General he sent to do the job.]
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