The Questions David Petraeus Should Be Asked By Congress During Iraq Hearings

Mother Jones:

It's time for what's become a semiannual ritual: General David Petraeus comes to Capitol Hill. Last September, the top military commander in Iraq testified before several House and Senate committees in what was widely depicted as a make-or-break moment for the Bush administration and its war in Iraq. Wielding charts and graphs, Petraeus, who was accompanied by U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker, claimed that the so-called surge of U.S. troops in Iraq was working and that "it is possible to achieve our objectives in Iraq over time." Such an outcome, he added, "will require a long-term effort." The questions he received from the legislators were mostly softballs. (Neither senators Hillary Clinton nor Barack Obama were impressive when questioning Petraeus.) But when Republican Senator John Warner asked Petraeus if the Iraq War "makes America safer," the general replied, "I don't know, actually. I have not sat down and sorted [it] out in my own mind." War critics zeroed in on that comment, yet Petraeus' performance was generally deemed a success, in that it appeared to have created political space (in the United States) for the war--six month's of space, at least. Petraeus told Congress that a decision on reducing the level of troops should be put off until March 2008 and that in half a year he would report back to Congress.

Read the whole story: Mother Jones

Comments

[research]

09:52 PM on 04/04/2008

isn't the Iraq invasion and occupation a WAR CRIME?

[BOfever]

10:37 PM on 04/03/2008

To be honest with you, why do we let Congress ask questions anyways? They aren't experts in anything yet they pretend to be when they ask about war, economic conditions or even steriods in baseball.

What they shoud be asking themselves is how they can work together to try and cut out all of the government waste and pork projects that they approve every year. They should be grilling who ever approved the teapot museum or wild turkey museum.

[nogimmicks]

08:14 PM on 04/03/2008

A good question would be a line from Pink's song: "How do you sleep at night?"
Another good question: "Have you ever held a child dying from your bombs in your arms? Does an endless brutal occupation of a remote foreign country make the world a better place, a safer place?"

[BOfever]

10:33 PM on 04/03/2008

My guess is as a top military man, he has seen the worst of war.

[hydethesalami]

08:06 PM on 04/03/2008

It doesn't matter what they ask Petraeus.
He is much too competent for those losers.
They never laid a glove on him last time.
This time they will appear even more lame.

[lastams]

07:15 PM on 04/03/2008

You just have to love the posts that somehow manage to blame the quagmire in Iraq as being somehow part of the worldwide Zionist conspiracy.
Apparently, the State of Israel hatched a massive plot to remove Saddam Hussein, triple the value of Saudi Oil, and virtually explode the ranks of Islamic extremists, all to their own selfish ends.
I gather that the Israelis expect the Saudis to literally choke on their wealth, AlQaeda to be unable to feed their vast numbers, and Iran to eventually blow itself up.
How diabolical!
While we’re at it, let’s go ahead and blame the mortgage crisis on the Jews.
God only knows, they MUST be somehow involved.

[Hallucinocynic]

08:11 PM on 04/03/2008

Damn, they're good.

[Bobby]

06:55 PM on 04/03/2008

Are those strings behind you General Puppetraeus?

[ThomH]

06:38 PM on 04/03/2008

The question I would ask General Petreus is this:

"Generall, you want to keep American troops in Iraq, even though almost all Iraqis want to see them leave. In fact, the respected U of MD PIPA poll a while back revealed that over 62 % of Iraqis even favor the violent attacks killing our troops, clear majorities of both Sunnis and Shias. Is there some higher percentage of Iraqis favoring the attacks killing our troops that would change your mind, or would you still want us to stay even if every last Iraqi was in favor of killing our troops?"

[BOfever]

10:39 PM on 04/03/2008

Do you really want to make decisions off of polls? If there was a poll that asked Americans if they think their taxes are too high 99% would say yes. Does that mean abolish all taxes?

[Moshe]

06:09 PM on 04/03/2008

I have a question for Petreaus: David, are you aware that it is the duty of every U.S. military officer to give non-partisan military advice?

[lastams]

06:25 PM on 04/03/2008

David doesn't want to join Fallon in "retirement".
Those who don't follow the Necon line seem to have a habit of disappearing.

[timothe]

07:12 PM on 04/03/2008

Petraeus' testimony in September was both fair and non-partisan. The grandstanding by many of the politicians was grossly self-centered and irresponsible.

Most importantly, the strategy of the surge worked in that it bought time for political reconciliation. Petraeus is not responsible for the political reconciliation.

[lastams]

07:31 PM on 04/03/2008

I agree that Patraeus' testimony in September was indeed intelligent, fair, and non-partisan.
I also agree that the behavior of our elected representitives was outrageous, and probably will be again.
Where I disagree is in your saying that the surge worked by providing the Iraqis with time to reconcile. After 4 years of war it should have been fairly obvious that Iraq is NOT going to reconcile into a unity government. Not today. Not tomorrow. Not ever.
Formulating a plan to effect a virtually impossible outcome isn't buying time, it's continuing a dillusion.

[wcfar]

05:49 PM on 04/03/2008

Just like Admiral "the real deal" Fallon said, Petreaeus is a kiss ass and a chickenshit. Does anyone seriously believe that the hearings are going to produce anything other than pure, dyed in the wool bullshit? What a waste of taxpayer funds flying him in and setting him up in a luxury hotel and ferrying him around in military aircraft that burn fuel at an ungodly rate...phew I am out of breath. The joint chiefs should just tell him to stay in Iraq until the 100 years war is over.

[research]

05:24 PM on 04/03/2008

Betray Us: Is it America's Iraq invasion and occupation WAR CRIME Damnable?

[timothe]

07:19 PM on 04/03/2008

suggesting that a decorated 4 star general is treasonous is beyond the pale.

[research]

03:14 PM on 04/04/2008

Since he is defending the Iraq Invasion and Occupation war crime he is not only guilty of treason but war crimes as well.

[dr4Will]

05:21 PM on 04/03/2008

Get ready for the continual lies---crocker is alway say we have a moral obligation--to whom--Iraq,no!!--Americans,YES!--get the hell out of there--Bush is to blame and we look elswhere-take the madman out of office --soon!!

[timothe]

05:13 PM on 04/03/2008

Excellent article!! The questions are fair and worth asking. I just hope they don't get skewed by political grandstanding such as Hillary's "willing suspension of disbelief" or another lunatic fringe Moveon.org ad sold at half price by the New York Times.

[MrJoyboy]

04:30 PM on 04/03/2008

Why doesn't the General just come out and say, "We will fight them over there so that Israel doesn't have to fight them over there."

[lobear00]

04:28 PM on 04/03/2008

The question: How many Saudi Nationals are playing the role of Al Qaida and fighting against the US troops.

[lastams]

06:40 PM on 04/03/2008

Last summer a senior US Army official stated that recently seized documents
indicated that Saudi Arabia and Libya were the source of about 60 percent of the foreign fighters who came to Iraq in the past year to serve as suicide bombers or to facilitate other attacks.

[Hallucinocynic]

03:56 PM on 04/03/2008

General, who is in charge of security for the oil fields? What unit or units are manning those sites?

Who is monitoring the movement and the accounting of that movement of oil?

Who is providing the oversight for the accounting and inventorying of the oil?