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It is General Petraeus Not General Betray Us
Senate Democrats and Republicans grilled the top US military commander and diplomat in Iraq on Tuesday in a sign that Congress is still not convinced that the surge has succeeded in Iraq. General David Petraeus and Ryan Crocker appeared before the Senate foreign relations committee for a second day of Congressional hearings to report on the military surge which was designed to provide the Iraqi government with “breathing space” to achieve political reconciliation. Despite the positive news they gave saying the surge is working, skeptic congressmen stressed that the Iraqi government had made scant progress towards achieving reform and reconciliation. Also, in a full page ad in the New York Time, moveon.org asked the question “General Petraeus or General Betray Us?”
Gen Petraeus and Mr. Crocker repeated the assessment they gave the House on Monday, telling senators that the surge had improved security in parts of Iraq. While conceding that there had not been much progress on national reconciliation, they suggested there were signs of improvement across the country. Senators on both sides of the political aisle pointed to a series of recent reports, including one by the General Accountability Office, the oversight arm of Congress, which concluded that the Iraqi government has failed to meet political and security benchmarks. But Mr. Crocker tried to deflect some of that criticism, by arguing that the government had made some progress. He said it was already sharing oil revenues in an equitable way, even though a key hydrocarbon law considered crucial to reconciliation has not been approved.
Democrats argued that Gen Petraeus and Mr. Crocker were attempting to push the problem down the road to April, when the military commander wants to report back to Congress. Gen Petraeus on Monday recommended that the US start reducing troop numbers to the pre-surge levels of about 130,000. But Democrats, and some Republicans, said bigger cuts were needed.
Chuck Hagel, the Nebraska Republican, told Gen Petraeus and Mr. Crocker that there were “contradictions” between the recent reports on Iraq and their testimony. “Are we going to continue to invest American blood and treasure at the same rate we are doing now, for what? The president said let’s buy time. Buy time? For what? Every report I’ve seen, and I assume both of you agree with this, there’s been, really, very little, if any, political process that is the ultimate core issue, political reconciliation in Iraq.”
It seems that no matter what Petraeus had said in his testimony, the people who want us out of Iraq would not believe him. They are conjuring up conspiracy theories that the White House somehow influenced his testimony and that what he says is not the truth, but sorry guys…it is General Petraeus, not General Betray Us.
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