Senators want answers on Iraq strategy

WASHINGTON — Senators of both parties pressed Army Gen. David Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker on Tuesday to explain how much longer Americans should continue to sacrifice lives and dollars while Iraqis fail to make political compromises or end sectarian fighting.

The tone at Tuesday's daylong hearing before the Senate Foreign Relations and Armed Services committees was far different from Monday's House session and marked by much sharper attacks on President Bush's Iraq policy.

Bush ordered 30,000 more U.S. troops to Iraq in January for six months to tamp down violence so that Iraqi politicians would have a chance to create a stable government. This week Petraeus asked Congress to give that approach more time.

He said the addition of 30,000 troops can be rolled back by mid-July 2008, 18 months after Bush ordered the troop increase to begin. That would leave 130,000 U.S. troops in Iraq more than five years after they invaded. Petraeus said he couldn't decide on further withdrawals before March.

Sen. Robert Byrd, D-W.Va., told Petraeus and Crocker that every few months, "someone from the administration comes up and says, 'Just give us six or 12 more months and things will look better.' You've talked about military success, but by the president's own reckoning, that success is meaningless without political reconciliation. Are six months or 12 months really going to make a difference on the big questions? Why should we keep giving you more and more time?"

Petraeus said violence against Iraqi civilians was down recently but remains high. Crocker acknowledged that Iraqis have made no real progress toward a national settlement but are taking steps in the right direction.

Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, quoted Petraeus' words back to him: that U.S. forces could hand over responsibility to Iraqis "as the situation and Iraqi capabilities permit."

"This sounds identical to what President Bush has been saying all along, that U.S. forces will draw down as the Iraqis are able to stand up," Murkowski said. "Are we continuing the same path we have laid out before?"

Petraeus said a transition to Iraqi control has taken place in some places. He said that U.S. forces were trying to speed things up but couldn't proceed faster than conditions allow or they'd be "rushing to failure."

Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., a presidential candidate, said Bush ordered Petraeus and Crocker to implement "what many of us see as a failed policy."

She said that civilian deaths and car bombings in Iraq have risen and that U.S. casualties have been greater in every month of 2007 than they were in the same month of 2006. Meantime, Osama bin Laden, the mastermind of the Sept. 11 attacks, remains at large and his terrorist network is gaining strength in Pakistan, she said.

"The reports that you provide to us really require the willing suspension of disbelief," Clinton said.

Sen. John Warner, R-Va., one of the most influential Republicans on national-security matters, asked Petraeus if his recommendations would make America safer. Petraeus initially evaded a direct answer, saying:

"Sir, I believe that this is indeed the best course of action to achieve our objectives in Iraq."

Warner asked the question again.

"Sir, I don't know actually," Petraeus said.