Gen. David Petraeus Advises
Thursday, October 2nd, 2008
Ernie Fitzpatrick asked:
He’s BACK! And I doubt that the Soros team will be guilty of another ad saying that Patraues Betrays Us. That campaign went over like a lead balloon. But you can rest assured that the Senators running for president will get in as much “shine time” as they can. And they’ll be very careful to speak to the constituency that they think will be voting for them. What’s right just isn’t the issue right now. It’s called politics!
Gen. David Petraeus in congressional testimony Tuesday declined to establish a specific timetable for drawing down troop levels beyond July, the departure time for the last of the 30,000 extra troops sent to Iraq last year. And you know that’s not going to sit well with Hillary or Obama!
Petraeus, the top commander of U.S. forces in Iraq, told the Senate Armed Services Committee a 45-day pause in troop drawdowns after July would allow commanders to assess conditions in Iraq after the extra troops leave. After the 45 days, Petraeus said, commanders will continue to assess conditions in Iraq to see when they can withdraw more troops.
Come on David, it’s an election year. Give us some good news!
Bush has said he intended to accept Petraeus’ recommendation. On Thursday, the president will make a speech about the war, now in its sixth year, and his decision about troop levels. Bush knows this isn’t going to sit well with even many in his own party, much less the oppositions that’s now a majority!
Here’s a few of the Committee’s comments:
>Sen. Carl Levin of Michigan, the committee chairman, called Petraeus’ recommendation a “clear, open-ended pause.”
>Virginia Republican John Warner, a former chairman of the committee, interrupted Petraeus during a long answer about whether the war was making the U.S. safer. “My time on the clock is moving pretty quickly. Can you now, just in simple language, tell us, yes, it is worth it and it is making us safer here at home?”
>Sen. Joe Biden, chairman of the committee, said the strategic purpose of increasing troops in Iraq had not worked. “We’re stuck where we started before the surge with 140,000 troops in Iraq and no end in sight. That in my view is unsustainable….and it is unacceptable to the American people.”
>Sen. Richard Lugar, a Republican, was equally critical, saying that “simply appealing for more time to make progress is insufficient. We need a strategy that anticipates a political end game and employs every plausible means to achieve it.”
>Sen. John McCain of Arizona, the presumptive Republican nominee, said the extra troops have reduced violence and prompted some political reconciliation. The political fortunes of McCain, a major supporter of Petraeus’ strategy.”We’re no longer staring into the abyss of defeat.”
>Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York, one of the two remaining Democratic presidential candidates, called a continuation of the Bush policies “irresponsible. The additional troopsvhave not provided security to allow Iraq’s government to bring the nation’s various factions together. Instead, the United States should begin an orderly process of removing troops from Iraq. I think it could be fair to say that it might well be irresponsible to continue the policy that has not produced the results that have been promised time and time again at such tremendous cost to our national security.”
>Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., used a line of questioning to show he believed U.S. forces were wrongly being drawn into sectarian fighting, rather than maintaining the fight only against Al Qaeda.
For now, Petraeus faces a dramatically different political landscape than last fall when support for the war had been eroding steadily among Republicans. Petraeus’ testimony helped shore up GOP defections at the time. And since then, a significant drop in violence has helped stave off legislation ordering troops home.
But all the while we’re creating more and more enemies.
For those who have lost loved ones in the war these such meetings are very difficult to hear.
Susan
He’s BACK! And I doubt that the Soros team will be guilty of another ad saying that Patraues Betrays Us. That campaign went over like a lead balloon. But you can rest assured that the Senators running for president will get in as much “shine time” as they can. And they’ll be very careful to speak to the constituency that they think will be voting for them. What’s right just isn’t the issue right now. It’s called politics!
Gen. David Petraeus in congressional testimony Tuesday declined to establish a specific timetable for drawing down troop levels beyond July, the departure time for the last of the 30,000 extra troops sent to Iraq last year. And you know that’s not going to sit well with Hillary or Obama!
Petraeus, the top commander of U.S. forces in Iraq, told the Senate Armed Services Committee a 45-day pause in troop drawdowns after July would allow commanders to assess conditions in Iraq after the extra troops leave. After the 45 days, Petraeus said, commanders will continue to assess conditions in Iraq to see when they can withdraw more troops.
Come on David, it’s an election year. Give us some good news!
Bush has said he intended to accept Petraeus’ recommendation. On Thursday, the president will make a speech about the war, now in its sixth year, and his decision about troop levels. Bush knows this isn’t going to sit well with even many in his own party, much less the oppositions that’s now a majority!
Here’s a few of the Committee’s comments:
>Sen. Carl Levin of Michigan, the committee chairman, called Petraeus’ recommendation a “clear, open-ended pause.”
>Virginia Republican John Warner, a former chairman of the committee, interrupted Petraeus during a long answer about whether the war was making the U.S. safer. “My time on the clock is moving pretty quickly. Can you now, just in simple language, tell us, yes, it is worth it and it is making us safer here at home?”
>Sen. Joe Biden, chairman of the committee, said the strategic purpose of increasing troops in Iraq had not worked. “We’re stuck where we started before the surge with 140,000 troops in Iraq and no end in sight. That in my view is unsustainable….and it is unacceptable to the American people.”
>Sen. Richard Lugar, a Republican, was equally critical, saying that “simply appealing for more time to make progress is insufficient. We need a strategy that anticipates a political end game and employs every plausible means to achieve it.”
>Sen. John McCain of Arizona, the presumptive Republican nominee, said the extra troops have reduced violence and prompted some political reconciliation. The political fortunes of McCain, a major supporter of Petraeus’ strategy.”We’re no longer staring into the abyss of defeat.”
>Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York, one of the two remaining Democratic presidential candidates, called a continuation of the Bush policies “irresponsible. The additional troopsvhave not provided security to allow Iraq’s government to bring the nation’s various factions together. Instead, the United States should begin an orderly process of removing troops from Iraq. I think it could be fair to say that it might well be irresponsible to continue the policy that has not produced the results that have been promised time and time again at such tremendous cost to our national security.”
>Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., used a line of questioning to show he believed U.S. forces were wrongly being drawn into sectarian fighting, rather than maintaining the fight only against Al Qaeda.
For now, Petraeus faces a dramatically different political landscape than last fall when support for the war had been eroding steadily among Republicans. Petraeus’ testimony helped shore up GOP defections at the time. And since then, a significant drop in violence has helped stave off legislation ordering troops home.
But all the while we’re creating more and more enemies.
For those who have lost loved ones in the war these such meetings are very difficult to hear.
Susan
