I'm sure the CiC gave Abizaid the courtesy of first asking how he felt about giving his opinion in public.
The ploy worked to absolute imperfection.
Abizaid distorted reality, and the President used his commanding General at the expense of compromising on BOTH their respective integrity.
Not really ~ we saw the same thing done at the Thomas hearings. The Dems really don't know how to handle it when someone complains about their racism.