Petraeus Says Iraq Too `Fragile’ for Removing Troops
Nicholas Johnston and Ken Fireman 4/08/08
April 8 (Bloomberg) — Army General David Petraeus told lawmakers today that progress in Iraq is too “fragile and reversible” to allow U.S. troop levels to fall below about 140,000 earlier than September.
Petraeus, testifying before the Senate Armed Services Committee in Washington, recommended a 45-day evaluation after the final brigade from last year’s “surge” of troop reinforcements into Iraq is withdrawn in July. Only after that period can consideration of further withdrawals begin, he said.
“This approach does not allow establishment of a set withdrawal timetable,” Petraeus, 55, said. “However, it does provide the flexibility those of us on the ground need to preserve the still-fragile security gains our troopers have fought so far and sacrifice so much to achieve.”
Iraq’s stability, Iran’s influence on the country and the ultimate cost of the occupation to the U.S. in lives, money and military readiness were the major issues lawmakers debated during today’s hearing.
Democrat Carl Levin, the Armed Services Committee’s chairman, immediately criticized Petraeus’s proposal, calling it a “a plan which has no end.” Levin, a senator from Michigan, said Iraqis had failed to use the drop in violence attributed to the surge to push toward political unity and away from dependence on American forces and on U.S. reconstruction funding.
McCain’s View
A possible future U.S. commander in chief, Senator John McCain of Arizona, defended President George W. Bush’s strategy, saying the U.S. is no longer “staring” at defeat in Iraq.
“Today it is possible to talk with real hope and optimism about the future of Iraq,” said McCain, the top Republican on the panel and his party’s presumptive nominee for president. “An American failure would almost certainly require us to return to Iraq or draw us into a wider and far, far costlier war.”
McCain’s questioning was interrupted by an unidentified man shouting “bring them home” seven times before police officers removed him from the room.
Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton told Petraeus and U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker, who sat alongside the general, that the Iraq strategy hasn’t produced the “promised results” and the U.S. should begin the “orderly” withdrawal of forces.
Clinton Objects
Clinton objected to a Bush administration plan to negotiate a long-term agreement with Iraq on the presence of American troops without submitting the accord to Congress for approval.
Clinton’s rival for the Democratic nomination, Senator Barack Obama of Illinois, who also seeks a pullout from Iraq, will question Petraeus later today in a hearing of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
Beginning two days of testimony before Congress, Petraeus said Bush’s deployment of about 21,000 more U.S. troops last year helped quell violence in Iraq.
Under questioning, Petraeus did describe as disappointing the performance of some Iraqi troops who were sent last month to defeat Shiite militias in the southern city of Basra. The offensive “could have been better planned” by the Iraqis, the general said.
There are currently more than 150,000 U.S. troops in Iraq. As of today, 4,017 U.S. personnel have died in Iraq since the conflict began in March 2003, and 29,676 Americans have been wounded, according to the Defense Department.
`Increasing Pressure’
Crocker told lawmakers that the trend in Iraq is “positive” as Iraqi politicians overcome “sectarian barriers” to pass needed legislation, including a budget.
“The strategy that began with the surge is working,” Crocker said. “This does not mean, however, that U.S. support should be open-ended or that the level and nature of our engagement should not diminish over time.”
Both Petraeus and Crocker warned lawmakers about Iranian meddling in Iraq. Petraeus said Iranian-backed militia groups “pose the greatest long-term threat to the viability of a democratic Iraq.”
“The extent of Iran’s malign influence was dramatically demonstrated when militia elements armed and trained by Iran clashed with Iraqi government forces in Basra and Baghdad,” Crocker said.
Oil Revenue
Senators criticized Iraq for not taking a greater role in paying for reconstruction, particularly with oil prices near record highs.
“Sky-rocketing oil prices have swelled Iraqi oil revenues beyond all expectations,” Levin said. “But Iraqi leaders and bureaucrats aren’t spending their funds.”
In response, Crocker pledged that “the era of U.S.-funded major infrastructure projects is over” as Iraq begins to use more of its own money to pay for rebuilding.
Iraq pumped 2.38 million barrels of crude a day last month, according to Bloomberg estimates. That output is among the highest recorded since the 2003 invasion of Iraq.
Republicans, who generally supported Petraeus at the hearing, expressed some disappointment with the performance of Iraqi forces.
Virginia Republican John Warner, a former chairman of the committee, interrupted Petraeus during a long answer about whether the war was making the U.S. safer.
“My time on the clock is moving pretty quickly,” Warner said. “Can you now, just in simple language, tell us, yes, it is worth it and it is making us safer here at home?”
“I do believe it is worth it,” Petraeus replied.
Lee ADDS: The Dems are so set on surrendering in Iraq they will not be open minded about what they are learning. It is clear that not only dre they not ‘open mined’ but are ‘close minded’ to the point of being unwilling to face logic!
