Ted Kennedy, from today's Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on the nominations of Admiral Mullen and General Cartwright for chairman and vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff:
We had, in January, when this surge was started -- Secretary Gates said, "It's viewed as a temporary surge."
In February Secretary Gates told the Senate Appropriations Committee, "I think General Petraeus believes they'll have a pretty good idea whether this surge is working, probably, by early summer."
And in April, Secretary Gates told us, "More time would be needed. I think it's been General Petraeus's view all along, sometime, at some point, during the summer -- mid- to late summer, perhaps -- he has thought that he would be in a position to evaluate whether the plan was working."
In May the president said even more time would be necessary. He told us General Petraeus said it would be at least the end of the summer before we can assess the impact of this operation; the Congress ought to give Petraeus' plan a chance to work.
A week later, Secretary Gates said the administration would make their evaluation of the situation of the surge in September.
On May 9th, Lieutenant General Ray T. Odierno, the commander of the Multi-National Force-Iraq, said the surge needs to go through the beginning of next year for sure.
Then, on July 20th, General Odierno again admitted that it would be at least November before the military could provide a real assessment.
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