Petraeus Doesn't Get Time to Address 'Don't Ask' Policy

WASHINGTON (March 16) -- Most of his colleagues at the top of the U.S. military have ducked the question, but Gen. David. H. Petraeus, commander of American forces in the Middle East, was ready for action today when a senator asked for his views on military service by homosexuals.

Petraeus had prepared an eight-minute statement on the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy, which requires gay members of the military to be discharged if they disclose their sexuality. But he never got a chance to read it before the Senate Armed Services Committee.

Though senators enjoy rules permitting unlimited debate on the Senate floor, Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., the committee chairman, announced he would enforce a "six-minute rule" on witness statements for the hearing.

Levin, who has introduced legislation to repeal "don't ask, don't tell," invited Petraeus to submit his statement in writing. The general declined, for now anyway. "He wants to read it," an aide said, refusing to give reporters a copy of the statement.

When Petraeus didn't get his eight minutes, he went on to answer other questions. "This is not a sound bite issue," he said.

Petraeus, who was before the committee to testify on the status of American forces across the Mideast, was the latest in a parade of senior officers to be asked for comment by lawmakers on the future of the "don't ask" policy.

Both President Barack Obama and Adm. Mike Mullen, who as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff is the nation's top military officer, have called for repeal of the policy. But most senior uniformed leaders have refused to go that far, endorsing only a Pentagon-ordered study of the policy and the ramifications of repealing it. Petraeus did the same today.