Petraeus to Congress: reassess Iraq before further troop cuts
The US strategy would effectively end Bush's role in the war, pushing decisions to his successor.
By Peter Grier | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitorposted April 8, 2008 at 3:54 p.m. EDT
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WASHINGTON - After the "surge," the wait.
The top US commander in Iraq on April 8 told senators that after the 20,000 US troops sent during last year's surge are withdrawn, by July, he recommends a period of waiting and reassessment before deciding on any further change in US strategy.
If embraced by the White House, such an interregnum could effectively push major future decisions on Iraq into the administration of the next president. In that sense it could mark the end of President Bush's role in a conflict whose outcome might well define his standing in history.
"This approach does not allow establishment of a set withdrawal timetable; 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 hard and sacrificed so much to achieve," said Gen. David Petraeus, the senior US commander in Iraq, in his opening statement to a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing.
General Petraeus and his State Department counterpart, US Ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker, testified on Capitol Hill amid very different circumstances than they faced during their previous update appearance last September.
The "surge," plus extraneous circumstances such as deals between US forces and Sunni tribes, has caused violence to decline to levels not seen since the beginning months of 2005 – though fighting in Baghdad and Basra has spiked upward in recent weeks.
At the same time, the US presidential race has accelerated to breakneck speed. And Petraeus and Ambassador Crocker on April 8 faced questioning by all three major contenders for the Oval Office – Sens. John McCain (R) of Arizona and Hillary Rodham Clinton (D) of New York on the Senate Armed Services panel, and Sen. Barack Obama (D) of Illinois later in the day on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
In his remarks, Petraeus portrayed recent progress in Iraq as real. Even with the recent uptick in violence, high-profile attacks remain far lower than a year ago. So far, the US and the Iraqi government have unearthed 2,837 weapons this year – more than they found in all of 2006.
There are now over 91,000 members of the Sons of Iraq, said Petraeus, referring to the largely Sunni local security groups. Over 21,000 Sons of Iraq have been absorbed into the Iraqi Army and police, or other government jobs.
At the same time, all gains remain fragile, and could be easily reversed, judged Petraeus. "The situation in certain areas is still unsatisfactory, and enormous challenges remain."
For his part, Crocker worried about what he termed the possible "Lebanonization" of Iraq, referring to attempts by Iran to exert influence in the country by supplying money and weapons to Shiite militias.
The two officials' bottom line: US strategy in Iraq should now be a wait-and-see approach. After the last "surge" troops return in July, the US should undertake a 45-day period of consolidation and evaluation, said Petraeus. After that, commanders would begin a process of assessment to examine the conditions on the ground.
"This process will be continuous, with recommendations for further reductions made as conditions permit," said Petraeus.
Frustrated Democrats on the Senate Armed Services panel said they found Petraeus's plan to be no plan at all; or, rather, a plan to definitely come up with another plan, at some point.
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