Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., Accuses one of President Biden’s top picks of the Pentagon of having a “long record of volatile eruptions” and said he would oppose the nomination during a committee hearing for the Senate Armed Services Thursday.
Colin Kahl, a former Obama adviser, is Biden’s choice for policy defense.
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Cotton accused Kahl of being wrong about policy in the Middle East for the past four years before questioning some of his posts on social media about former President Donald Trump and Republicans.
“When Middle East policy was your job at the Pentagon, you could not foresee the rise of ISIS, which launched a real war in which 30,000 Islamic insurgents would conquer a quarter of Iraq,” Cotton said. ‘Dr. Kahl, it seems to me that your judgments on war and peace are almost always wrong. ‘
Cotton also dealt with some of Kahl’s posts on social media, claiming that he had shown that he was not fit to serve in the administration.
“In 2019, in response to a story about Syria, you wrote that the Republican Party has degraded itself at the altar of Trump and is now the party of ethnic cleansing,” Cotton said. “The job you’re looking for requires a judicious, even-tempered attitude. You will face disagreements with Congress every day in the Pentagon, across the executive branch. influence your relationship with Congress. ‘
Kahl admitted that he used language that was “sometimes contemptuous” and apologized.
Former US Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for the Middle East Colin Kahl joins a panel discussion on Iran’s nuclear program on Capitol Hill, February 21, 2012 (Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images)
(Getty Images)
“There were a number of positions that President Trump took that I strongly opposed. I think the language I used against the parties was sometimes disrespectful, and for that I apologize,” Kahl said. “I understand that the position of Secretary of Defense for policy, although it is a political appointment, is not a political task.”
Cotton is not appeased.
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‘If you react like that to mere policy differences when you sit at home reading the news, I do not think you are fit to sit in the Pentagon and make decisions about life and death. That’s one reason I’ll oppose your nomination, ” he said.