Senators debate progress made in Iraq

The Senate Armed Services Committee today held a hearing focused on Iraq political reconciliation benchmarks. The Committee questioned Dr. Andrew Bacevich, General John Keane, and Dr. Robert Malley about issues concerning the progress made by the Government of Iraq, their thoughts about the statements made yesterday by General David Petraeus, and of course U.S. success since first entering Iraq.

Both Committee members, including presidential candidate Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), and the panelists, were split on their views about U.S. progress in Iraq, particularly since the highly publicized “surge” in American involvement.

Chairman Carl Levin (D-MI) discussed his feelings that we need to help make Iraq stable enough to function independently. “We cannot do for Iraqi’s. They must do for themselves,” Levin explained. Keane focused on the success the U.S. has had, describing Iraq in 2006 as “hell” and saying we are on the right course toward completely eliminating Al Qaeda forces in the northern part of the country.

McCain emphasized that pulling out of Iraq now would be the wrong choice for the U.S. to make.