Rep. Eric Cantor (R-Va.) just wrapped up a conference call with reporters following a meeting he attended with other members of Congress, the president and his advisers at the White House this afternoon. Cantor said that during the meeting President Obama made "very clear" his goal is to "dismantle al Qaeda and its extremist allies." As recently as a week ago, Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said that defeating al Qaeda's extremist allies means defeating the Taliban, but there have been reports that some White House advisers think the goal should be defeating just al Qaeda, not the Taliban.
Cantor recalled the president said during the meeting that "that discussion is ongoing about whether you can actually separate the two--al Qaeda and the Taliban."
Cantor said he told the president that he's "committed to trying to put politics aside" in order to give "our generals in the field what they need in terms of their recommendations."
He added that some Democratic members were "very very cautious about going against the recommendations of our commander." He said some members of the Armed Services Committee in particular were "very outspoken" about the need to fully resource McChyrstal's request.
