The Obama campaign whined after this hearing saying that Biden didn't give him enough time for political reasons.
Give me a break!
This op-ed says it all!
Thank you for posting.

Americans expected nothing from the "Petreaus Report," and Americans got nothing from of the "Petraeus Report."

Just another useless waste of time and money - like the "Iraq Study Joke" - oops "Iraq Study Group."

Bottom Line ?

Oilmen, Arms dealers, and other War Profitiers are making money... Americans troops will continue to die.

Watch out for the cliff America - getn close.

Dear lowly aide to Senator Boxer that has to read constituent emails,

I am dropping the illusion that the Senator is in touch with her constituents and reads or gets briefed on the emails sent to her. A good indication of when an incumbent has reach their "used by date" is when they spend their time, in this case seven minutes, making self-promoting statements rather than addressing the issues.

It is inexcusable to waste the opportunity to exact laser-like questions that could have been asked the General Petraeus and Ambassador Crocker in order to expose the falsified data and propaganda that is being foisted on the American people.

Questions like:

Does the official figure of American soldiers killed in action include those that work as paid mercenaries or those who died of wounds after being removed from Iraq?

If 3,770 soldiers killed in Iraq does not include nearly 1,000 contractors killed in Iraq that have been hired at more than 3 times the salary of a soldier to do what has, in the past, been work done by soldiers, how are other statistics provided by the DOD to be taken at face value?

Is the humanitarian crisis of 2.25 million refugees helping or hurting, and what are the monthly statistics regarding refugees?

How many Iraqi civilians have been killed in our attempt to bring peace and freedom to their country and what are the monthly statistics regarding deaths of those we are there to help?

Of the $500 billion spent, how much has been spent on the 180,000 contract personnel hired by the Pentagon?

If an Iraqi shot in the front of the head, rather than the back of the head, is not counted as a war related death in the surge statistics, is the same true for an American soldier?

With large reservoirs of Sunnis in Saudi Arabia and of Shiites in Iran, what are the prospects that the US will be met by a surge from the independent factions in the civil war?

Has the surge promoted lasting political progress?


Any question?

You've nailed a key issue here, Mr. Edsall.
Congressional grandstanding is inexcusable, and it goes far toward explaining the low regard in which Congress is held.

I would offer up one method of assessing the POTENTIAL 'financial costs' of Petraeus' testimony, at a time when America:

-- spends over $6 billion each month on Iraq (to use the most conservative estimate)
-- spends probably $2 million each month for Congress (staff, IT infrastructure, salaries...)

And the Congress meets for... around 160 hours each month...?

So add (a) one month of the costs of Iraq, plus (b) one month of Congressional costs, and then (c) divide $6,200,000,000 by 160 hours. I come up with around $38,750,000 per hour -- simply for the costs of Iraq and Congress.

Put on those terms, the Congressional grandstanding is inexcusable.

The Democratic Leadership needs to sit down with every one of their members and have a 'come to Jesus' heart-to-heart about the fact that a '1200 word comment' represents -- conservatively -- over $1,000,000 of taxpayer time.

What it represents in terms of 'lost opportunity costs' is even larger.

Excellent post.
I hope it is widely read!

no mention of 7 min ass kissing most gop congressmen gave the general

I too was disappointed in Obama, again, when he spent 6 of his 7 minutes playing to the galleries, showing how smart he is, and then spent about 1 minute asking a question that had already been asked.

He was supposed to be there to interrogate Patraeus and he didn't do his job.

Why only 7 minutes per senator?? That is ridiculous under the circumstances. The senators should have been allowed to ask questions until all questions had been answered, no matter how long it takes. This isn't about whether or not to throw a little pork toward a senator's state, this is about people dying every day! As for the hardballs and softballs, I'd like to see a list of actual questions, not the crap that packaged them. And most disappointing was the speech from Barbara Boxer. She got her face time, but to what end? Where were the hardballs we expect from war critics????? Too bad the senators were not willing to sit there "until hell freezes over" like true diplomats of the past!

Let's be sensible here. Everybody knew (or should have known) the Petraeus show had almost no chance of having any nutritional content. Craft the most cogent questions in the world and all you would've got Party Line sound bites for every answer. Does anyone expect that he would've ever responded "Why Senator, you've got a good point, this whole war is a criminal charade!"

These hearings are pure ritual with any substance as an unintended by-product. These events are not meant to be about gaining information or insight. They are about self aggrandizement and publicity. Not one senator seems to be able to pursue a point with any rigor. They ask a question, hear the answer then ask a question, usually long winded, on another unrelated topic. Talk about AADS!

All we hear lately is SUPPORT OUR TROOPS, the rationale for continuing this war.
Why did the Senate filibuster and not allow passage of the resolution allowing soldiers as much time at home as they've served in Iraq before redeployment?
Why is the pay for military so abysmal that many military families must seek assistance (welfare, food stamps) or spouses to work extra jobs?
Why are veterans continuously denied benefits for injuries (including PTSD) after bravery and service?
Why are military and veteran's hospitals in such deplorable condition?
Why can't we raise a professional all-volunteer military force, and rely instead upon private contractors (Blackwater) who are accountable to no one?
Why can high officers (who give orders) elude prosecution or conviction for torture (Abu Gharib), killing civilians (Haditha) allowing foot soldiers to go to prison for their crimes?
Conscription (a draft), were the Congress to authorize such, would cause a revolt against the Bush & Co. policies and the Iraq war itself so they won't bring that up as a possibility, yet the only way to sustain this war is with a new fresh crop of recruits.
Instead, the policy-makers are content to continue placing the burden of sacrifice on the backs of those veterans, military personnel (most of whom who were called up from National Guard service) and make them pay with their lives, their families, and add insult to injury.

Politicians are longwinded monologues.

Dem to Petraeus :

Thank you for your service to our Country, you are a great American. No further questions, I yield my remaining minutes to the next dem ass kisser.

This commentary is baloney. I watched hours of the House and Senate hearings with Petraeus. Even the so-called critics, read Democrats, spent more time praising Petraeus than in any meaningful questioning. Barbara Boxer was a breath of fresh air. She didn't play the "great general" game, she spoke for the American people.

It may take just one thing to wake people up... A shortage of gasoline. You can bet your last dollar that when that happens many who have their heads in the sand will pop up to take a second look.

He was not sworn in so all given is useless!
No accountability whatsoever. If these flunkies knew they would be held accountable after the fact they would not dare to attempt to deceive us, the public.
Nope, heard Biden on Meet the Press and he
wanted to stay in Iraq too, not disappointing the children there he said.
Kucinich, Ron Paul or 3rd party. Or get more
of the same. Notice how carefully Hillary worded her questions, she would never end the
war in Iraq.