McCain to Introduce Amendment Calling for McChrystal Testimony

Sen. John McCain plans to introduce a measure calling on Gen. Stanley McChrystal to testify before Congress on the Afghanistan war.

The Arizona Republican and former presidential candidate told FOX News that the amendment, to be introduced as an attachment to the defense spending bill, will likely take the form of a resolution that does not have the force of law. It would call on the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan as well as Gen. David Petraeus, head of Central Command, to testify.

But the action would put McCain, the top Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, at odds with Chairman Carl Levin, D-Mich., who has said it would be "premature" to seek McChrystal's testimony before the Obama administration decides on a new strategy for that war.

Levin argues that President Bush was provided time to reshape the strategy in Iraq before announcing the troop surge which Petraeus later detailed in his testimony.

But Republicans note that Obama already announced a strategy for Afghanistan earlier in the year. The president is now taking a second look at that plan, entering the first in a series of strategy sessions with top officials, including McChrystal, Wednesday afternoon.