Virginia representatives hammer general

By NEIL H. SIMON Media General News Service
Published: April 9, 2008

WASHINGTON—Senators Jim Webb and John Warner of Virginia joined Tuesday in a bipartisan challenge to the top commander of the Iraq war, questioning whether the five-year conflict has improved the safety of Americans or the strategy of the U.S. military.

Webb, a Democrat, and Warner, a Republican, both former secretaries of the Navy, fired questions at Gen. David Petraeus, commander of the multi-national force in Iraq, and Ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker at a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing. Petraeus and Crocker last testified on the war in September.

Warner asked Petraeus whether the war is making Americans more secure.

"Up to 80 percent of the American people just don't accept the premise that it's worth it. Can you tell us in simple language that it is worth it?" Warner said.

Petraeus answered, "I do believe it is worth it."

He said he took on the task and privilege of commanding the multi-national forces, because I do believe it is worth it, he said. Regarding al-Qaida, Iranian influence in Iraq and stability in the region, Petraeus said, "I do be-lieve we have made progress in the past year."

Petraeus testified that after the additional U.S. troops sent to Iraq in 2006 are pulled out this July, the military will wait 45 days before considering whether to withdraw more of the roughly 140,000 troops remaining in the coun-try.

"Withdrawing too many forces too quickly could jeopardize the progress of the past year," he said.

Webb said keeping so many troops in Iraq this summer could continue to prevent the military from fighting terror-ists in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

"I start wondering how we're going to do that and still meet the demands that are outside Iraq," he said.

But several Senate supporters of the troop surge strategy, which Petraeus credited with bringing the lowest levels of violence to Iraq in three years, said it is working, giving Iraqi military and civilian leaders time to establish them-selves and prevent al-Qaida from building its base in Iraq.

"Al-Qaida cannot stand the surge," Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C. said. "If you put a list of peo-ple who wanted us to leave, the number one group would be al-Qaida, because you've been kicking them all over Iraq."

Webb challenged Crocker on the diplomatic front, asking why the Bush administration will not share with Congress an agreement now being drafted to authorize a U.S. troop presence in Iraq beyond 2008, when the current United Nations resolution expires.

Crocker said that because the agreement will not call for establishing permanent bases in Iraq, it does not need the Senate's approval, a step that is constitutionally required for international treaties.

But under questioning from Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., Crocker said Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's government would be sharing the agreement with its parliament.

Before the hearing, 400 veterans rallied in support of the troop surge strategy.

"It's obviously working and it's the first strategy that has," said Coby Dillard of Rich-mond, who served in the U.S. Navy aboard the USS Constellation during the initial invasion of Iraq.

The mission was not accomplished in 2003, Dillard said, but "it's beginning to turn around. Iraqis are beginning to standup on their own."

At the rally, Graham thanked the veterans for their work to drum up legislative support for the war effort.

"The only thing between us and winning is the Congress. Keep the pressure up," Graham said.

Today, Petraeus and Crocker will testify before the House Armed Services and Foreign Relations Committee. Mem-bers of the Virginia House delegation weighed in on Tuesday's hearings.

"I want our troops to come home the minute America's interests in Iraq are secured. I continue to support policies that will create a democratic Iraq that no longer needs American troops. However I do not support the quick and easy promises by some to withdraw our forces next year regardless of the consequences. It is foolish to ignore the real danger that an unstable Iraq will become a magnet for Islamofascism and other forces that want to harm America."

—Rep. Eric Cantor, R-Va.

"Democracy does not occur overnight, so we must be patient, trust our commanders on the ground and pro-vide the leadership the world expects from the American people. The Iraqi people are still trying to find their way. We must not abandon them in their hour of need."

—Rep. Rob Wittman, R-Va. (member of the House Armed Services Committee)

"General Petraeus and Ambassador Crocker are understandably trying to put a positive spin on the Iraq war—one of the worst military fiascos in American history."

"Iraq has $10 billion in reconstruction funds. Yet, we are paying for Iraqi military training all the way down to their garbage pickup with American taxpayers' money—while they sit on tens of billions they are simply choosing not to spend."

"The Iraq war has been a fiasco. This policy has never been worthy of the sacrifice of our military fami-lies."

—Rep. Jim Moran, D-Va.