As you no doubt know, General Petraeus is back in Washington for more testimony. I wonder if Hillary will need another “willing suspension of disbelief” to listen to him.

The four-star general in charge of Iraq wants more time in a war that is now in its sixth year. Democrats say he’s got until the November elections.
Gen. David Petraeus planned to testify Tuesday on the war for the first time in seven months. He was expected to tell two Senate committees that last year’s influx of 30,000 troops in Iraq had helped calm some of the sectarian violence but that to prevent a backslide in security, troops would likely be needed in large numbers through the end of the year.

Under his proposal, as many as 140,000 troops could be in Iraq when voters head to the polls this fall.

Democrats contend that this approach guarantees an open-ended commitment to a $10-billion-a-month war as the economy at home is faltering. They say the lack of political progress made in Iraq, as well as the recent spike in violence in Basra, indicates the troop buildup has failed.

“We need a strategy that will clearly shift the burden to the Iraqis, that’ll begin to take the pressure off our forces, begin to allow us to respond to other challenges in the region and worldwide,” said Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I., a member of the Armed Services Committee.

Democrats also acknowledge that they are more or less helpless in trying to force President Bush’s hand on the war. While anti-war legislation has been able to pass the House, it repeatedly sinks in the Senate, where Democrats lack the 60 votes needed to overcome procedural hurdles.

I’ve been listening to the testimony thus far. Petraeus is clear and concise. He recognizes Iran as a long-term security problem for Iraq, and he believes that the security/political gains are sustainable, given further initiative and effort by both Iraqi and Coalition forces. Ambassador Crocker is speaking at the moment, providing his assessment of what has been happening in Iraq since they last appeared before Congress in September.

You can find a live feed at most of the major News websites. Foxnews.com has one for sure. Just follow the link and look for the WATCH LIVE link on the left side.

Hot Air and Michelle Malkin have information on how you can do your part to support General Petraeus. Michelle is also liveblogging the testimony.

Rick Moran at Right Wing Nut House thinks that Petraeus has a tough sell today.

Sister Toldjah as some more links.

Meanwhile, liberals will freak out over this article concerning the future of American involvement in Iraq, but it’s nothing new. Bush said he won’t withdraw from Iraq in defeat, what part of that statement is so difficult to understand?

This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 8th, 2008 at 9:44 am and is filed under Defies Categorization. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.