Washington delegation | Hearing produces no shift in views

WASHINGTON — The state's congressional delegation, like most of the U.S. House, came out of Monday's much-anticipated testimony about progress in Iraq with their opinions of the war intact.

All but one of the state's six House Democrats want to begin withdrawing U.S. troops. The three Republicans have supported the military's troop buildup, which Gen. David Petraeus said is meeting many of its goals.

The testimony by Petraeus, the top general in Iraq, and Ryan Crocker, the U.S. ambassador there, prompted new concerns from Rep. Rick Larsen, who sits on the Armed Services Committee and has visited Iraq three times.

"Iraq is undergoing an accidental partition" among Sunnis, Shiites and Kurds, said Larsen, D-Lake Stevens. "Ambassador Crocker did not come even remotely close to addressing the lack of political reconciliation there."

With power devolving to the provinces and local chieftains, Larsen said, "What happens if we end up with a well-trained Iraqi military reporting to a central government that does not exist?"

Rep. Dave Reichert, R-Auburn, just returned from a weekend in Iraq, a last-minute trip with four other members who, like Reichert, oppose setting timetables for the U.S. withdrawal.

The group included Rep. Brad Ellsworth, D-Ind., a former sheriff; and three Republicans. One is Jim Walsh, R-N.Y., whose longtime seat in upstate New York is in jeopardy over his support of the war.

In a brief statement, Reichert said he met with generals and soldiers in Iraq "who see what is going on firsthand. They both had the same message, that there's been progress, but there's hard work ahead."

Rep. Cathy McMorris Rogers, R-Spokane, said withdrawing troops rapidly now "would have devastating consequences and make a difficult situation worse."

"It would create a humanitarian crisis, embolden al-Qaida and terrorist groups and create instability throughout the Middle East," she said.

Brian Baird, D-Vancouver, has voiced some of the same concerns in explaining why he now wants to give the troop escalation more time.

In March, Baird voted for a Democratic plan to begin withdrawing U.S. troops. He changed his mind after a visit to Iraq in mid-August.

Rep. Adam Smith, D-Tacoma, downplayed Petraeus' testimony that 30,000 U.S. troops could leave Iraq by next summer.

"By July 2008, we'll have the same number of troops that we had at the beginning of January 2007," Smith said. "That means that while the escalation would end, the occupation would continue with no end in sight."

As a senior member of the Armed Services Committee, Smith got a chance to question Petraeus and Crocker at Monday's hearing.

He and Petraeus went back and forth on the issue of sectarian violence, with Smith pushing Petraeus to be more specific about numbers of civilian deaths. Smith contends that violence is down because so much ethnic cleansing has already occurred.

Rep. Jim McDermott, D-Seattle, described Petraeus' strategy as "run out the clock and leave his failed war to the next president."

Rep. Jay Inslee, D-Bainbridge Island, said the testimony showed American troops cannot politically stabilize Iraq.

Alicia Mundy: 202-662-7457 or amundy@seattletimes.com