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09-10-2007, 01:43 PM
Associated Press
Gen. Petraeus Goes Before Congress
By ANNE FLAHERTY 09.10.07, 12:53 PM ET
WASHINGTON - Gen. David Petraeus went before a deeply divided Congress on Monday, the commander of 165,000 troops heckled and criticized by anti-war critics before he began to speak.
"Tell the truth, general," shouted protesters as the four-star general made his way into the crowded hearing room.
Petraeus did not respond, either to them or to the sole heckler who interrupted the session in its opening seconds.
"We're not going to have any disturbances," declared Rep. Ike Skelton, D-Mo., who presided over the long-awaited hearing. "We're going to ask that they be immediately escorted out. Do that now. Out they go," he said.
A moderate midwesterner and chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, Skelton welcomed Petraeus to hearing with wistful words of praise.
Petraeus is "almost certainly the right job for the job in Iraq, but he's the right person three years too late and 250,000 troops short," Skelton said.
Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker listened quietly at the witness table as Skelton called on them to "tell us why we should continue sending our young men and women to fight and die if the Iraqis won't make the tough sacrifices leading to reconciliation."
"....Are we merely beating a dead horse?" the congressman asked.
The war is in its fifth year, and has claimed the lives of more than 3,700 U.S. troops.
Petraeus' greeting elsewhere wasn't nearly as warm as Skelton's praise.
"Cooking the books for the White House," charged the newspaper advertisement by MoveOn.Org - an allegation that Republicans swiftly challenged Democrats to disavow.
"These childish tactics are an insult to everyone fighting for our freedom in Iraq, and they should be condemned," said Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the Republican leader.
The ad and ensuing political scuffling served as a backdrop for Petraeus' long-awaited assessment of troop buildup that President Bush ordered last January.
"It has not worked out as we had hoped," the four-star general wrote the men and women under his command late last week. He said that the pace of political reform among Iraqi politicians has been disappointing.
Among the major unanswered questions as Petraeus settled into the witness chair was how many U.S. troops could begin to withdraw, and how quickly.
Democrats generally favor more, and faster. So far, Republicans have been generally willing to stick with Bush, who has argued insistently against a withdrawal deadline.
The appearance of Petraeus, more than Crocker, took on outsized importance. As both the architect and the commander of last winter's shift in strategy, he has won praise from lawmakers in both parties, and opinion polls show he has more credibility with the public on the war than Bush.
Democrats have been critical of Petraeus, but not nearly as scathing - or as personal - as the MoveOn advertisement.
"General Petraeus or General Betray Us?" it asked, a wordplay on his name.
On Sunday, Democrats sharply questioned Bush administration assertions that seven months of troop increases might be working, citing continuing violence and al-Maliki's political woes. They said they would not back off efforts to set target dates for bringing troops home.
"The reality is that, although there has been some mild progress on the security front, there is, in fact, no real security in Baghdad or Anbar province," said Sen. Joseph Biden, D-Del., a 2008 presidential candidate who chairs the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter, a moderate Republican, said he respected Petraeus' judgment but would not blindly follow it.
"We're going to look behind the generalizations that General Petraeus or anybody gives us and probe the very hard facts to see exactly what the situation is," Specter said. "As I've said in the past, unless we see some light at the end of the tunnel here, very closely examining what General Petraeus and others have to say, I think there's a general sense that there needs to be a new policy."
In their long-awaited report to Congress, Petraeus and Crocker will say the buildup of 30,000 troops, which brings the U.S. total to nearly 170,000, is working better than any previous effort to quell the insurgency and restore stability, according to the officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were discussing internal deliberations.
The officials also disputed suggestions that Petraeus and Crocker would recommend anything more than a symbolic reduction in troop levels and then only in the spring.
The testimony sets the stage for an announcement by Bush later in the week about how he will proceed in the face of growing congressional discomfort with the war.
The hearing happened as a poll released Monday showed that an overwhelming numbers of Iraqis say the U.S. troop buildup has worsened security and the prospects for economic and political progress in their country.
Forty-seven percent of those surveyed in a poll conducted by ABC News, Britain's BBC, and Japan's public broadcaster NHK said they want American forces and their coalition allies to leave the country immediately. This was 12 percent more people than harbored those views in a March poll, just as the troop increase was beginning. And 57 percent - including nearly all Sunnis and half of Shiites - said they consider attacks on coalition forces acceptable, a slight increase over the past half year.
WASHINGTON (AP) _
Gen. Petraeus Goes Before Congress
By ANNE FLAHERTY 09.10.07, 12:53 PM ET
WASHINGTON - Gen. David Petraeus went before a deeply divided Congress on Monday, the commander of 165,000 troops heckled and criticized by anti-war critics before he began to speak.
"Tell the truth, general," shouted protesters as the four-star general made his way into the crowded hearing room.
Petraeus did not respond, either to them or to the sole heckler who interrupted the session in its opening seconds.
"We're not going to have any disturbances," declared Rep. Ike Skelton, D-Mo., who presided over the long-awaited hearing. "We're going to ask that they be immediately escorted out. Do that now. Out they go," he said.
A moderate midwesterner and chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, Skelton welcomed Petraeus to hearing with wistful words of praise.
Petraeus is "almost certainly the right job for the job in Iraq, but he's the right person three years too late and 250,000 troops short," Skelton said.
Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker listened quietly at the witness table as Skelton called on them to "tell us why we should continue sending our young men and women to fight and die if the Iraqis won't make the tough sacrifices leading to reconciliation."
"....Are we merely beating a dead horse?" the congressman asked.
The war is in its fifth year, and has claimed the lives of more than 3,700 U.S. troops.
Petraeus' greeting elsewhere wasn't nearly as warm as Skelton's praise.
"Cooking the books for the White House," charged the newspaper advertisement by MoveOn.Org - an allegation that Republicans swiftly challenged Democrats to disavow.
"These childish tactics are an insult to everyone fighting for our freedom in Iraq, and they should be condemned," said Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the Republican leader.
The ad and ensuing political scuffling served as a backdrop for Petraeus' long-awaited assessment of troop buildup that President Bush ordered last January.
"It has not worked out as we had hoped," the four-star general wrote the men and women under his command late last week. He said that the pace of political reform among Iraqi politicians has been disappointing.
Among the major unanswered questions as Petraeus settled into the witness chair was how many U.S. troops could begin to withdraw, and how quickly.
Democrats generally favor more, and faster. So far, Republicans have been generally willing to stick with Bush, who has argued insistently against a withdrawal deadline.
The appearance of Petraeus, more than Crocker, took on outsized importance. As both the architect and the commander of last winter's shift in strategy, he has won praise from lawmakers in both parties, and opinion polls show he has more credibility with the public on the war than Bush.
Democrats have been critical of Petraeus, but not nearly as scathing - or as personal - as the MoveOn advertisement.
"General Petraeus or General Betray Us?" it asked, a wordplay on his name.
On Sunday, Democrats sharply questioned Bush administration assertions that seven months of troop increases might be working, citing continuing violence and al-Maliki's political woes. They said they would not back off efforts to set target dates for bringing troops home.
"The reality is that, although there has been some mild progress on the security front, there is, in fact, no real security in Baghdad or Anbar province," said Sen. Joseph Biden, D-Del., a 2008 presidential candidate who chairs the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter, a moderate Republican, said he respected Petraeus' judgment but would not blindly follow it.
"We're going to look behind the generalizations that General Petraeus or anybody gives us and probe the very hard facts to see exactly what the situation is," Specter said. "As I've said in the past, unless we see some light at the end of the tunnel here, very closely examining what General Petraeus and others have to say, I think there's a general sense that there needs to be a new policy."
In their long-awaited report to Congress, Petraeus and Crocker will say the buildup of 30,000 troops, which brings the U.S. total to nearly 170,000, is working better than any previous effort to quell the insurgency and restore stability, according to the officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were discussing internal deliberations.
The officials also disputed suggestions that Petraeus and Crocker would recommend anything more than a symbolic reduction in troop levels and then only in the spring.
The testimony sets the stage for an announcement by Bush later in the week about how he will proceed in the face of growing congressional discomfort with the war.
The hearing happened as a poll released Monday showed that an overwhelming numbers of Iraqis say the U.S. troop buildup has worsened security and the prospects for economic and political progress in their country.
Forty-seven percent of those surveyed in a poll conducted by ABC News, Britain's BBC, and Japan's public broadcaster NHK said they want American forces and their coalition allies to leave the country immediately. This was 12 percent more people than harbored those views in a March poll, just as the troop increase was beginning. And 57 percent - including nearly all Sunnis and half of Shiites - said they consider attacks on coalition forces acceptable, a slight increase over the past half year.
WASHINGTON (AP) _