Democrats and US President George W. Bush's Republicans grilled the top US commander in Iraq on Tuesday, questioning whether security gains were significant enough to keep US troops in the war zone.
General David Petraeus and US Ambassador to Baghdad Ryan Crocker insisted progress was being made under Bush's strategy of temporarily building up troops to allow time for Iraqi lawmakers to achieve political reconciliation.
But the bipartisan criticism directed at both men during congressional hearings raised questions about whether Bush could count on Republican colleagues for help in staving off Democrats' demands for a faster pullout.
Senator Chuck Hagel, a Republican critic of the unpopular war, struck at the heart of Bush's justification for increased force levels, asking why troops should stay when their presence had failed to lead Iraqi politicians to make needed compromises.
"Are we going to continue to invest American blood and treasure at the same rate we're doing now? For what? The president said, `Let's buy time.' Buy time? For what?" Hagel said.
Influential Republican Senator John Warner of Virginia, who last month urged Bush to send a message to Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki by withdrawing some US troops by Christmas, sounded deeply skeptical of current strategy.
"I hope in the recesses of your heart that you know that strategy will continue the casualties, the stress on our forces, the stress on military families, the stress on all Americans," he told Petraeus.
Warner asked if the general's recommendations would make the US safer -- a reference to Bush's argument that Iraq is a central front in the war on terrorism.
"Sir, I don't know, actually," Petraeus first replied, saying he was concentrating on his military mission in Iraq. When asked again by another senator, the general said the US had clear national interests in Iraq and achieving those interests had implications for US security.
Senator Gordon Smith, an Oregon Republican who joined war critics last year, said Petraeus' testimony appeared to secure Republican support for Bush. He predicted any legislation that set a withdrawal deadline would not pass.
Petraeus repeated his plan -- outlined on Monday -- to gradually pull out the extra 30,000 "surge" forces and bring troop levels down to between 100,000 and 130,000 by next summer.
He said he could not predict how quickly troop levels would fall after the summer. He also argued his force should still protect the Iraqi people, not focus solely on handing over to Iraqi forces and conducting counterterrorism missions.
Bush is expected to announce that 30,000 soldiers could return home next year in a nationally televised speech today on the divisive issue of US troop levels in war-torn Iraq.
Bush is expected to say that the "surge" could be trimmed by July next year, when just six months remain of his presidency, leaving the next stage of the conflict up to his successor amid a heated race for the White House.
The US president has long vowed to base his decisions about Iraq on the recommendations of military leaders on the ground.
But more than four years after the US-led invasion, Americans see an Iraq gripped by violence, sectarian strife and political corruption -- far from the ideal model of democracy in the Middle East that Bush had touted.
Anger is also rising over the human and material cost of the war, with more than 3,700 US soldiers and tens of thousands of Iraqis killed since March 2003 and half a trillion dollars spent.
Sixty-one percent of nearly 2,700 US adults surveyed online last month by the Harris Poll group said they felt Bush was "too eager" when he sent US troops into Iraq in March 2003, while two-thirds gave Bush bad marks for his handling of the conflict over the past few months.
According to another poll by ABC News and the Washington Post, 55 percent want to see troops come home by next spring.
If Bush does not replace the 30,000 extra troops currently in Iraq as part of the "surge," he will not actually be reducing troop levels but only restoring them to the same level as this year's numbers.
The Washington Post yesterday cited unnamed White House aides as saying that Bush planned to emphasize that he was able to order troop cuts only because of the success achieved on the ground in Iraq, and that he was not being swayed by political opposition.
Bush has shown no inclination to order drastic cuts in the 168,000 US forces now in Iraq that Democrats have sought.
"It sounds to me as if General Petraeus is presenting a plan for at least a 10-year, high-level US presence in Iraq," House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi said after a White House meeting with Bush and other congressional leaders.
The California Democrat said she told Bush he should explain to US citizens "why our country should have to continue to make that commitment."
Crocker noted an effort by Maliki and other leaders to work out some national issues, including an announcement last month of agreement in principle on establishing provincial powers and on relaxing a ban on former members of the late Iraqi president Saddam Hussein's Baath party from public service.
"These are modest achievements but I nonetheless find them somewhat encouraging," he said.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese
RIVER TRAGEDY: Local fishers and residents helped rescue people after the vessel capsized, while motorbike taxis evacuated some of the injured At least 58 people going to a funeral died after their overloaded river boat capsized in the Central African Republic’s (CAR) capital, Bangui, the head of civil protection said on Saturday. “We were able to extract 58 lifeless bodies,” Thomas Djimasse told Radio Guira. “We don’t know the total number of people who are underwater. According to witnesses and videos on social media, the wooden boat was carrying more than 300 people — some standing and others perched on wooden structures — when it sank on the Mpoko River on Friday. The vessel was heading to the funeral of a village chief in