On Tuesday, David Petraeus told the Senate Armed Services Committee that, beginning in July, he needed an indefinite amount of time to consider whether further troop reductions were feasible. The Washington Post’s Josh White and Ann Scott Tyson report that Secretary of Defense Robert Gates and Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, disagreed with him yesterday before the same committee. They also disagree with the President.

These military leaders said that the recommendation by President Bush and Petraeus of 12-month instead of 15-month combat tours just doesn’t cut it. More troop reductions need to be made and they need to be made by the fall, Gates said. Otherwise the Pentagon will be spread too thin. Why isn’t it a bigger deal that military leaders who rank ahead of Petraeus disagree with the President?  Read White and Scott Tyson here.  MB

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