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Gen. Keane: Ashton Carter Will Bump Heads with Obama as Def. Secretary
Tuesday, February 3, 2015 07:16 PM
By: Greg Richter
President Barack Obama's nominee for Defense secretary, Ashton Carter, is likely to bump heads with his boss just as his three predecessors did, says retired Gen. Jack Keane.
Senate confirmation hearings for Carter are set to begin Wednesday, and he already has indicated to the Senate Armed Services Committee that he would reconsider Obama's plan to remove all U.S. troops from Afghanistan, the Associated Press reports.
Carter can expect tough questions from senators, Keane said Tuesday on Fox News Channel's "Your World with Neil Cavuto."
"And the fact of the matter is, I think he's going to be … very concerned about what happened in Iraq in terms of our withdrawal there," Keane said. He added that a video released by ISIS on Tuesday of a captured Jordanian pilot being burned to death is the result of America's complete pullout of Iraq, which allowed al-Qaida in Iraq to morph into the Islamic State (ISIS.)
"We could absolutely repeat that verbatim in Afghanistan," Keane said. "Carter is an intelligent, approachable man who takes his job very seriously. And I would be stunned if he didn't make a recommendation to change the president's policy on Afghanistan."
Keane admitted that Obama might not listen.
"He's been wrong more than once here, and he's capable of doing it again. And I think this is why we're on the fourth secretary of Defense, because he has been at odds with this department more than any department in government."
