BernieHund: The Political Watchdog

Senator Joe Biden started the afternoon session, saying that we are where we were when the surge started.  It is unacceptable to the American people.  Would starting to leave really support al-Qaeda?  Biden stated that our presence in Iraq was one of the best recruiting tools for al-Qaeda.  Could our departure force the Iraqi’s to come together and reconcile? 

There is a horrible cost of staying in Iraq.  The loss of life and limb of our soldiers and the economic expense is a drain on our citizens and our economy.  Biden went on to mention the testimony of other soldiers and retired generals.  Even when we do pull troops out of Iraq, we will have to bring them home for a year for rest and retraining before any of them can be sent to Afghanistan. 

Senator Luger began by commending the service of the troops, etc.  He said that last week the committee held a series of hearings.  The surge has succeeded in improving many areas allowing breathing space.  The economy is improving in some areas.  Tens of thousands of Iraqi Sunis are contributing to our operations. Military operations may realize some security gains in some areas. 

Political events in Iraq are the key to the future.  There has been no indication they can govern and is filled with corruption.  The government has showed no ability to oversee the oil production.  Sectarian and tribal groups are still heavily armed.  External interference by Iran is having a toll.  There are disputes that are holding up any reconciliation. 

The demand for American soldiers cannot be sustained.  Incredible stress has been placed on our service people.  Ten percent of our troops should not be in uniform.  Availability of ground troops is determining our policy, instead of our policy dictating the number of ground troops.  Simply appealing for more time is not the answer.  Luger went on to reiterate recommendations from hearings last week.

Ambassador Ryan Crocker responded by presenting the questions asked last September.  He now sees a positive trend.  It is slow, but it is positive and requires support.  However, it is reversible.  The developments are on the national level.  In the last several months the parliament has formulated and begun reconciliation acts.  The accountability law has passed after lengthy debate, extending amnesty.  The provincial powers law calls for elections this year.  All major parties have agreed to elections.  The flag design has unified the country under one flag.  All this has been done since September.  It is now imperative that the government implement the laws.  Iraqi politics have become more fluid.

Crocker continued with the same talk from earlier in the day.  He thinks the surge is working.  He has begun negotiating a bilateral relationship with the U.S.  This is the same agreement that has brought the Democrats to their feet.  U.S. will remain in Iraq beyond the expiration of the UN agreement.  It will not specify troop levels or tie the hands of the next president.  Congress will remain fully informed as the negotiations are carried forward.  And, the same speech continued.

General David Petraeus presented the same speech from the morning session.

The only thing that has changed since this morning when Ambassador Ryan Crocker and General David Petraeus began their testimony is that four more American troops have been killed in Iraq.

Senator Biden got a round of applause when he told Ambassador Crocker that he would need Congressional approval to bind the hands of the next president.  Biden asked that there be no applause.

Biden then asked for a hint of how much has been accomplished and how much needs to be done.

Petraeus responded that there is a draw down going on.

Biden said there will be more troops after the draw down than there were before the surge.  Then to the ambassador, Biden asked if al-Qaeda was more of a threat in Iraq or Afghanistan.

Crocker stammered its way… Biden interrupted and asked which he would pick.  Crocker conceded in Afghanistan.

To maintain where we are now, 140,000 troops, 30 -40 deaths a month and $12 Billion a month.  What has to be done to reduce the costs in lives and economics?

Petraeus went into the generic BS. 

Biden:” Tell me whether or not there are any conditions under which you would recommend us leaving… conditions got a lot worse…. are there any conditions …. that the American deaths have spiked back up…. the civil war becomes more a reality… the militia are in open war…. Are any of those conditions such that you would say we have to withdraw and maintain?”  He completed the thought saying or do we start another surge?

The ambassador didn’t have an explanation.  He stammered his way around asking for the conditions for such to make a judgment.

Biden said that was the point.  No one knows and there will probably be no recommendation of withdrawal.

Senator Luger asked how we are going to maintain the armed forces.  Luger brought the present economic situation to the table saying that there are huge changes going on as a part of our preparedness.  What if we were to withdraw a lot of forces from Iraq?  What are the dire circumstances?  Are we making plans for those dire circumstances should they occur?

Petraeus said that what both he and Crocker had identified the problems revolve around al-Qaeda.

Luger: “What are we doing about that?”

“We are staying after al-Qaeda.”  The general seemed to get a little miffed at the question and shot back the answer.  He mentioned he concern about the Iranian influence.

Luger: “What did you do about the Iranian influence?”

We detained some of the special groups and will show the clear involvement of Iran into Iraq.

Senator Chris Dodd picked up on what Luger began.  Dodd said that there is incredible admiration for the troops.  A study done by the DOD stated said that there are high levels of combat stress.  What impact is the stress having on our troops to perform their duties?  Serious concerns have been raised to react to arising threats.  General Cody said recently “right now all the troops back at home…. if the surge comes down as we expect…. this nation needs a joint force ready … and we don’t have that right now.  I have never seen our lack of strategic depth where it is today.”  What additional pressures are we placing on the men and women serving?  What additional pressures are on the nation?

Petraeus responded that the Iraq fabric is torn.  Counter insurgency operations require full spectrum operations.  These are big operations.  Our troops are far better at this.  There is no question that multiple tours have put stress and strain on our troops.  However, there is good re-enlistment.  Troopers we see in Iraq are vastly better equipped than they were when they originally went into Baghdad.  Petraeus talked about everything that is better, but never really addressed the stress issue.

Dodd is still deeply concerned about the stress level.  To the ambassador Dodd raised the question of the Sons of Iraq. 

Crocker explained that enabled by additional forces, these individuals have decided to turn their back on the extremists. 

We are paying them, of course?

Sixteen million a month we are paying and it is saving us money on lost equipment.  Nothing in Iraq is easy.

Senator Hagel went back to a point Biden raised, saying that he realized that the ambassador and the general are implementers of policy, not makers of policy.  This is not a session to pick on you.  But, Hagel said he had always believed that we should be held accountable to setting policy worthy of the sacrifices.  Hagel went on to say that the Green Zone has been rocketed and mortared and it seems to him that in the abstraction of today’s report that we have lost over 1,000 since January of 2007.  Those are the realities.  Where do we go from here? 

Hagel said that Petraeus had said there was not a military solution.  The surge was to buy time.  Petraeus gave an interview saying there has been no progress in the national reconciliation.  The senator noted that we are going to see a bloody Iraq going from crisis to crisis.  Are we holding our policy captive to Iraqi policy or lack of?

To Ambassador Crocker, he addressed the question of diplomatic surge.  I don’t know if what you named as advancements could be considered a surge.  Syria plays an ambivalent role.  Where is the diplomatic surge that is going to make the outcome? 

Crocker explained that the diplomacy is based on biennial meetings.  There were a few meetings in the interim and there needs to be more.  Crocker explained that the Arabs need to be more engaged.  Ultimately, they have to make their own decisions.  With Iran, as noted in his statement, Crocker said he was ready to meet.  We can’t compel the neighbors the behave as we would have them behave.

Senator Kerry thanked General Petraeus for his achievements as a kind of progress, saying the general had played as good a hand as he could.  There is a larger set of balancing that we have to do.  We are not limited to Iraq.  Kerry looks at the larger field that essentially stays the same, regardless of what has happened in Iraq.  The Iraqi government is stumbling.  They can’t handle the real fundamentals.  There is a decreasing ability of our military to sustain this for an extended period of time.  How do we see our way to conclude this?  There has been lots of misinterpretation.  No one has suggested that we just pull the plug.  We need to change the dynamics, insist that the Iraqi’s do something for themselves. 

Kerry pointed out again that Petraeus had said that there is no military solution to Iraq.  We have rented the Suni allegiance.  There will come a time when they may change their perception of us.  To Petraeus Kerry asked if he was struck by the fact that the Iraqi’s can avoid making decisions as long as we are there?

Crocker answered that when they see a spirit of compromise it is when the country feels relatively secure.  Petraeus added that the Iraqi army is an integrated force, between the Shi’ites and Sunis. 

Kerry mentioned that AQI did not exist until we went into Iraq.  Once the Suni decided to turn on al-Qaeda, they joined us and why doesn’t that change the political dynamic?

Petraeus said the Sunis are not represented right now.  The provincial elections should help that when the Sunis vote.

Senator Coleman asked what can we do… where is the pressure that we can put on al-Maliki?  What are some of the conditions that are not in place today?

Crocker said there is a synergy when the Sunis turned against al-Qaeda, the Shi’ites took note.  The Shi’ites began to relax a little and no longer had to rely of some of the more extremists groups for protection.  That’s what gives us the climate for some of the legislative compromises. 

Senator Feingold said that Iraq is hurting our national security.  We need to redeploy our troops.  Iraqi factions will have new incentives to get to the negotiating table.  According to the intelligence al-Qaeda has the power to attack from within the U.S. We need to concentrate on where to take the risks.  Do you agree that we need to address the issue of al-Qaeda?

Crocker responded that his job is in Iraq and that is where he has to look from. 

Petraeus said that al-Qaeda is our top threat. 

Feingold interrupted to say that the safe haven for al-Qaeda is in Pakistan.  He went on to say that the threat to the world is al-Qaeda.  Osama bin Laden said in 2004 his goal is bankrupt the United States.  That’s what he is doing in Iraq.  The majority of Iranians want to know when the U.S. is leaving Iraq.

Senator Corker noticed in today’s questions that the focus in the bigger picture.  People want a sense of what the end is going to look like.  Historically, we find ourselves in a unique place.  He asked General Petraus what does he see the end to be.

Petraeus said to hand off the security to the Iraqi’s district by district and move more to an overwatch than in the day to day offensive. 

Crocker added that the Iraqi government wants to be in charge of their own government.  They feel the imperative to make progress on their own.

Senator Boxer said we have trained 400,000 and there were 140,000 trained.  So, there are roughly 500,000 trained Iraqis.  My concern is that the gains are fragile and reversible.  I have to wonder why we have to say fragile and reversible.  There has been no political solution.  I don’t get the sense that Crocker is getting any directive.  It’s the status quo.  Petraeus is asking for millions more to pay off militias.  Why don’t you ask the Iraqi’s to pay the entire cost of the militia.  Given the fact, that the Iraqi’s have billions of dollars, why don’t they pay off the militias?

Petraeus tried to explain a non-relevant point, but Boxer interjected I don’t want to argue the point. She followed up with why don’t you ask them to pay?

She continued with the Bush expectations of our being greeted as liberators.  Last month the Iranian president was given the red carpet treatment and our president has to sneak into the country in the dead of night.  Why is Ahmahdinajad greeted with kisses and flowers after all our sacrifices?

Crocker explained that the Iranians come to Iraq they don’t have to worry about the Iranian militias.

Boxer didn’t drop it!  Kudos to Barbara Boxer for asking the hard question.

Boxer continued that is why she asked the question… why do the Iranians get kisses on the cheek?  Finally, after listening to Crocker stammer, she said, “I give up.”

Crocker added that Cheney got a warm welcome.  Right…

Biden interjected, “Did he get kissed?”

Next there was the expression of frustration.  Suggesting that we are going to leave should call for a surge in diplomacy.  Secretary of State rice should be working with them day and night to get diplomacy rolling. 

Ambassador Crocker said we owe ourselves a discussion of what happens if we just leave.  What are the consequences to alternative courses of action?

Petraeus said he shared the frustration.  It is very easy to dislike where we are but we are where we are.  There are very real consequences of what could happen.  There has been fairly extensive diplomatic activity. 

Senator Bill Nelson gave way to Senator Obama.

Senator Obama thanked the general and the ambassador for their sacrifices and for those of the troops.  In the parade of horribles that you have outlined should we leave to quickly, there is the al-Qaeda in Iraq and Iran.  Should we be successful in Mosul, assuming in that narrow military effort we are successful, is there a chance that al-Qaeda will not reconstitute.

General Petraeus said they could reconstitute.

Obama asked at what point can we say they cannot reconstitute or when can we say that the Iraqi’s can handle them?

We are reaching that point in a few places. 

Obama came back saying that our goal is not to hunt down every single al-Qaeda, but to leave Iraq so they can help themselves.  There have been talks about integrating Sons of Iraq into the Iraqi security forces.  Does taking the Shi’ites into the security forces undermine the fact that the Sunis have not been integrated as quickly?

Petraeus answered that the process is difficult and slow.

Obama asked Crocker to define an acceptable relationship between Iraq and Iran.

Crocker said they have no problem with an Iran - Iraq relationship as long as the Iranians aren’t directing aid to militia.

Obama followed up with if it is known that Iran is arming special groups that are against the Iraqi government, why are the Iranians welcomed with open arms, flowers, etc.

Obama said that going into Iraq brought the al-Qaeda.  He believes that we need to increase pressure in a measured way.  That includes a time table.  We should be talking to Iranians as well as Iraqi’s if they are going to be close as neighbors.  We have not taken up diplomacy as we should have during the surge.  If we were able to have the status quo in Iraq without our troops being over 30,000 or would that not be good enough?

A Crocker stammer.

Obama wanted to know what the exact criteria is. 

Crocker said this is hard and this is complicated.  When Iraq gets to the point it can carry forward without significant danger, then clearly our profile diminishes significantly.

I suppose Obama didn’t get any criteria. 

The hearing goes on and will.  But, today we have seen Petraeus work from a military point of view, carrying out his command.  On the other hand, Ambassador Ryan Crocker seems to have done little during the breath the surge has provided.  In fact, Crocker seems to be totally unproductive in his role.  It’s time for Secretary Rice and a team of diplomats to get to the table and begin some negotiations.  Iraq doesn’t need the “my way or the highway” attitude of the Bush administration is we ever expect to bring our troops home.

The War in Iraq has taken a toll on the lives of our troops, the economy of our country, and all the while there has been next to no diplomatic action.  This is an administration failure.

And, as the last group of protesters escorted from the room, bring our troops home.