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.

At the Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on “Iraq After the Surge: What Next?” Senator Barack Obama (D-IL) says he thinks the surge has reduced violence and given breathing room, but that breathing room has not been taken the way they would all like it to be taken. The political situation is complicated there, and we have to work vigorously to resolve it. In your own words Ambassador [Ryan Crocker], Obama says, if we increase pressure in a measured way, that, in my mind, includes a timetable for withdrawal. It has to be a diplomatic surge that includes Iran, because if Maliki can tolerate normal neighbor to neighbor relations in Iran, then we should be talking to them as well because I don’t believe we are going to be able to stabilize the situation without them. (:28)

 

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At the Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on “Iraq After the Surge: What Next?” Senator Barack Obama (D-IL) says he’s not suggesting that we yank out our troops all the way, but the problem that he has is that the definition of success is so high with no traces of al-Qaida, no possibility of reconstitution, a highly effective Iraqi government, a functioning democracy, no Iranian influence (the kind we don’t like), and so that gives the possibility of us staying for twenty or thirty years. If our criteria is a messy, sloppy status quo but there is not a huge outbreak of violence, and its not a threat to its neighbors, that is an achievable goal within a measurable time frame, and that is what I think the committee is trying to get to. (1:10)

 

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At the Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on “Iraq After the Surge: What Next?” Ambassador Ryan Crocker says everything in Iraq is hard, and it will continue to be hard. But hard does not mean hopeless, he says, and the progress is significant. The gains are fragile and they are reversible. (:24)

 

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What progress has been made in Iraq? The progress question or some variant of it was asked repeatedly at the Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on “Iraq After the Surge: What Next?” Chairman Joseph Biden (D-DE) said in his opening statement violence in Iraq has gone down, but not as far as anticipated. These are fragile gains, he said, and the notion of staying in the country is not the goal. The continued loss of life, drains on our treasury, the impact of readiness on our armed services, and the ability to send soldiers to where al-Qaida has grouped, is like “treading water” and we can’t keep treading water without exhausting ourselves.
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Gen. David Petreaus, commander of Multinational Forces Iraq, testifying before the Senate Armed Services Committee, calls for a 45-day evaluation period before continuing withdrawal of U.S. troops beyond scheduled draw downs in July. (0:46)

 

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Answering questions from Sen. John Warner (R-VA) Ambassador Ryan Crocker says that al-Qaida is the mortal and strategic enemy of the United States. (0:42)

 

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Answering questions from Sen. Joseph Lieberman (I-CT) Gen. David Petraeus, the commander of Multinational Forces Iraq says that Iran is responsible for training and equipping some Iraqi extremist groups that target the American military. (1:17)

 

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Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY), a presidential criticizes the strategy of the Bush administration regarding the war in Iraq. She saysv that the longer the United States stays in Iraq, the more opportunities that are lost elsewhere in the world. (0:56)

 

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Answering questions from Sen. Lindsay Graham (R-SC) Gen. David Petraeus, the commander of Multinational Forces Iraq says that al-Qaida is further from their goal of establishing a base in the Middle East because of the surge in U.S. forces in 2007. (0:42)

 

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