“Today, the House Armed Services Committee meets to take testimony on the posture of two of our most important combatant commands, Central Command and Special Operations Command.  Our witnesses are: Admiral William Fallon, Commander, U.S. Central Command, and Admiral Eric Olson, Commander, U.S. Special Operations Command.

 “Welcome to both of you, and thank you for your excellent work on behalf of our nation.  We are truly grateful to you and the men and women you lead.  Those who serve with you are truly in the lead of America’s efforts both militarily and as the face of this nation in critical parts of the world. We couldn’t be more proud of them and of you.

 “Admiral Keating, the combatant commander for Pacific Command, was recently quoted as saying, ‘The readiness of our forces is affected by combat operations in Afghanistan and Iraq.’  He added, ‘We are at a higher risk state.’  I suspect he was engaging in understatement when he said that PACOM only had to adjust its strategic plans ‘a little bit’ since thirty thousand of the troops assigned there are deployed to CENTCOM. 

 “This is just the latest signal that we are facing increased strategic risk.   Admiral Mullen sat at that same table not long ago and called the level of risk ‘significant.’  Anyone who has been paying attention knows that there aren’t many, if any, units at home in the United States that are ready to conduct full spectrum combat operations.  And the only reason we can refer to the Army as ‘stressed’ and not ‘broken’ is because of the commitment and sense of duty demonstrated by our troops and their families.

 “This concerns me.  I don’t think I need to list all the potential flashpoints in the world that we could be called on to deal with, but the brewing crisis in the Andean region among Colombia, Venezuela, and Ecuador provides one clear example.  Because of our involvement in Iraq, we are accepting more risk than we should that we won’t be able to deal with them. 

 “I am afraid we are also shortchanging our commitment in Afghanistan, which is the primary front against those who attacked us on September 11th.  Admiral Fallon, I understand you are conducting a review of military operations in Afghanistan.  I hope that, based on that review, you can reassure us that I am being pessimistic when I say that we face potential failure in Afghanistan if we cannot reallocate some resources to that war.  We should expect our NATO allies to step up and do more, but we should take the lead in demonstrating an additional commitment.

 “These are serious issues facing all of us.  And it will make the decisions made about Iraq during this spring and summer particularly important.  We cannot address our level of risk or rebuild our Army or reinforce our effort in Afghanistan if we keep 15 brigades in Iraq.  And Iraq must be viewed in this context and not taken in isolation. 

 “Admiral Fallon, I saw in your written statement the comment that the recommendation to the President regarding the pace and scope of redeployments from Iraq would include the inputs from you and others in the chain of command.  I hope these inputs will include the context of strategic risk, the strain on the Army, and our needs in Afghanistan. 

 “To help us with this context, I hope that you will agree to appear before this committee when General Petraeus and Ambassador Crocker provide a status update on Iraq on April 9th.  It is my hope and expectation that this committee will have the benefit of your personal evaluation of the merits and risks of the proposed course of action regarding Iraq. 

 “Admiral Olson, let me say a word about Special Operations Command. The demand for Special Operations forces will continue to be high even after we are able to redeploy many combat forces from Iraq.  I hope you will share with the committee your plans and challenges for keeping a highly-trained, culturally attuned force over the long term.

 “I also look forward to hearing your thoughts on how we measure success in the overall campaign plan for the war on terror. How do we track our progress over time in shaping the environment so that the number of terrorists who must be taken off the battlefield decreases over time? And what lessons should we and others learn from your work with other partners in the interagency in this effort?

 “Thank you both and thanks again to all those you lead.  I now turn to our Ranking Member and my good friend, Duncan Hunter, for any comments he may care to make.”