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Congress to hear report on Iraq |  Printable version | 
10/09/2007
President George W Bush's top military and political advisers on Iraq are to begin two days of testimony before Congress on the US troop surge plan.
General David Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker are scheduled to report to four congressional committees.
Correspondents say it has been billed as "make or break" for President Bush's resolve to stay the course in Iraq. A record 168,000 US occupation troops are now in Iraq after 30,000 arrived in the surge between February and June this year. Gen Petraeus has become something of a talisman for President Bush - the general he has entrusted to rescue his policy in Iraq.
But there is a sense in Washington that his testimony may all be something of an anti-climax. Gen Petraeus is expected to argue that the controversial surge strategy has cut violence and should be extended. We have achieved tactical momentum and wrested the initiative from our enemies in a number of areas of Iraq. But it is anticipated that he will accept gradual troop cuts, beginning early next year.
"We have achieved tactical momentum and wrested the initiative from our enemies in a number of areas of Iraq," Gen Petraeus wrote in a letter to US forces on Saturday. But he said political reconciliation in Baghdad had not "worked out as we had hoped," although he was optimistic "a stable and secure Iraq" was possible. Democrats in Congress have long been pushing for a reduction in troop numbers in Iraq. On Thursday they seized on a report from a key US security commission recommending a cut in troop numbers by early 2008. Bush, who decides on force levels in Iraq, has said he will follow advice from commanders on the ground, rather than bowing to political pressure, to make his decision.
| | Posted By: SH - news@wilayahnetwork.com | | Back |
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