Petraeus on the Hill; Dems can’t control Code Pinkos; Idiot Sen. Levin calls Petraeus “Admiral;” Update: Petraeus recommends 45-day pause on troop reductions in July; Update: Aggressive Levin heckles Petraeus, allows outside heckler to pile on; Update: Sen. Lieberman lashes back at “See no progress” Democrats; Update: Another McCain Shia/Sunni flub?; Update: Petraeus slides added
Scroll down for updates/liveblogging of hearing…2:45pm Eastern. I’m adding some of the key slides Gen. Petraeus used in his testimony (thanks to Jack Holt). Click to enlarge:
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Want to send a thank-you card to Gen. Petraeus? Click on the envelope to sign:
Testimony starts at 9:30am. You can get the C-SPAN livestream here.
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As Gen. David Petraeus heads to Capitol Hill, Bill Ardolino’s five-part series on political progress in Iraq– in the executive and legislative branches, on budget and oil legislation, the Unified Retirement Law, de-Baathification reform, the General Amnesty Law, the referendum on Kirkuk, the Provincial Powers Act and the Provincial Elections Law–is definitely worth your time. There will be so much sound and fury from Democrat demagogues who know nothing of what’s actually going on on the ground. See also my year-in-review piece on the surge, the military, and the media–from which I draw again on this telling reminder of a Fox News poll in mid-January 2007 that exposed which Americans were rooting for success and which Americans were rooting for defeat:
The RNC put out a video on “Politics vs. Petraeus:”
The WSJ editorializes on the Petraeus effect:
General Petraeus and his chief deputy, Lieutenant General Ray Odierno, pursued a strategy that secured the population while going on offense against al Qaeda. U.S. and Iraqi troops moved into neighborhoods and lived among Iraqis, who in turn began to supply valuable intelligence about the terrorists. Faster than even the surge’s architects hoped, the strategy led to far less violence.
While Democrats still claim political progress is possible only if the U.S. leaves Iraq, the surge has proved the opposite. Better security required a larger U.S. presence, which in turn has made Iraqis feel more secure about compromise. The political progress has been especially significant at the local level, with greater cooperation from tribal leaders and local councils, most Sunnis saying they’ll participate in provincial elections this fall, and more oil money flowing to the provinces from Baghdad.
Much remains to be done, of course, and a premature U.S. withdrawal would put these gains at risk.
Milblogger/documentarian JD Johannes has condensed “Anbar Awakens” to give the public and interested parties a more tangible view of the effects of the troop surge:
Vets for Freedom is headed to DC after a 14-city nationwide tour. Here’s a Newsbusters interview with Pete Hegseth.
VFF “will hold America’s single largest gathering of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans. Participants will gather for a rally and media event and meet with their representatives to express their first hand experiences and explain why it is essential to complete the mission in Iraq and Afghanistan.”
When: 9:30am-11am
Where: Upper Senate Park
Meanwhile, Mookie has called off his “Million Man March” in Iraq.
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Blackfive has a fabulous tribute to Navy SEAL Mike Monsoor, whose family will receive his Medal of Honor at a White House ceremony today. More here.
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Update 9:46am. McCain speaks. “We owe a great debt of gratitude” to Army Gen. David H. Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan C. Crocker. “Success…is within reach.”
9:50am. Code Pinkos interrupt. Just like last time.
9:55am: McCain: “Congress must not choose to lose.” USAToday has audio of McCain’s statement.
Sen. Levin mistakenly calls Gen. Petraeus “Admiral.”
9:57am: Petraeus: Progress has been “fragile” and “reversible,” but “better than it was.” Sunni communities have increasingly rejected Sunni Al Qaeda. Awakenings have prompted tens of thousands of Iraqis to contribute to security. The recent flare-up in Basra highlighted Sadr ceasefire and the role Iran has played. Unchecked, they pose the greatest long-term threat to Iraq. Iraq’s ethno-sectarian competitions are influenced by many outside actors–a cancer that will spread if left unchecked.
10:12am: Petraeus: Withdrawing too many forces too quickly could jeopardizes gains made over the last year. A failed state in Iraq would pose serious consequences for the fight against al Qaeda.
Recommends a 45-day period of consolidation and evaulation in July (the “pause“). Make reductions as conditions permit. Does not allow for a timetable, but does allow for flexibility.
In closing: Addressing those serving in Iraq. “We have asked a great deal of them and their families. And they have made enormous sacrifices…All Americans should take pride in our men and women serving in Iraq…It remains the greatest honor to soldier with them.”
RedLasso has video of the first part of Gen. Petraeus’s testimony here.
10:26am: Ambassador Crocker testifying on political and economic gains and challenges. Political challenges: Refugees, rights of women and minorities, internal boundaries. “Iraq’s political progress will not be linear…changing dynamics within Shia community…in terms of economics and capacity building…revival of marketplaces and reopening of long-shuttered businesses…I remain convinced that a departure from our current course would mean failure…Iran has said publicly that it would fill any vacuum in Iraq…how we leave and what we leave will be more important than that we came…”
Questions from Senate panel.
10:42am. Sen. Levin calls Petraeus’s call for pause a “clear, open-ended pause.” Do you agree with Secy Gates that it would be “brief” or not? Levin is rude and sanctimonious. “He used the word brief. You are not. That is deliberate.”
Petraeus: I am not using the word “brief” or the word “pause.”
Levin: How long? Petraeus trying to answer. Could it be three months?
At the end of the period of evaluation and consolidation, it could be right then.
HECKLERS: BRING THEM HOME! BRING THEM HOME!
Levin barely lifts a finger to remove the heckler.
10:47am Eastern. Was the Iraqi govt operation in Basra adequately planned?
Petraeus: No question it could have been better planned. Levin is heckling Petraeus. Could you give me a direct answer?
Petraeus repeats: It could have been.
So this is the Democrat strategy for today: Heckle the general about Basra, allow outside hecklers to pile on.
10:58am Eastern. Sen. Kennedy takes two minutes to ask a question about bilateral agreements between the US and the Iraq and then tells Ambassador Crocker to hurry up and answer before he has a chance to open his mouth.
11:02am Eastern. Now, Sen. Windbag asks questions of Gen. Petraeus about Basra and cuts him off as he tries to answer.
Tom Elia is keeping a protester interruption scorecard.
11:12am Eastern. Joe Lieberman responds to his Democrat colleagues. Their attitude is “Hear no progress in Iraq, see no progress in Iraq, speak of no progress in Iraq.” I wish we could have agreement on the charts you have shown, the facts you have told us…we’ve got to give some credit for that.”
12:06pm Eastern. Bill Nelson takes an eternity to ask whether political reconciliation has happened. Guess he was snoozing while Crocker testified. I mentioned this morning that Bill Ardolino’s in-depth assessment of political progress was worth reading. The series should be sent to every member of Congress.
12:35pm Eastern. Hillary bloviates: “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 and to the men and women who wear the uniform of the United States military.”
1:03pm Eastern. The Left is having a field day with what appears to be another Sunni/Shia flub from McCain. Ugh:
5:25pm Eastern. Barack Obama’s turn to grandstand. He also interrupts Petraeus in the middle of his answer to Obama’s question about whether al Qaeda will ever try to reconstitute.
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Trackbacks
- Jules Crittenden » “Failure of Leadership”
- Sister Toldjah
- Neocon News » Petraeus engages the enemy (er, Congress…)
- Right Voices » Blog Archive » Levin Opens The Senate Circus With Stupidity
- A Lady's Ruminations
- C-Span Should Serve Alcohol With This Crap--Army of Dog
- Bloodthirsty Liberal » Junior Scout [UPDATED]
- America’s North Shore Journal | Petraeus on the Hill, er… Capitol Hill, not Hillary
- The Other McCain: Code Pink pests
- Bear Creek Ledger
- Flopping Aces » Blog Archive » Iraq Testimony On The Hill
- Michelle Malkin » In honor of Michael Monsoor
- General Petraeus Roundup Roundup « Tai-Chi Policy
- Petraeus and Crocker Surge Update « Axis of Right
- McCain On Patraeus And Supporting The Troops | McCain Blogs
- McCain On Patraeus And Supporting The Troops » Pirate’s Cove — Global Warming Rules!
- Connections « Love, Mom (Notes from the fridge)
- Soccer Dad
- Maggie's Farm
- Get Your Red Hots Here « The Reluctant Optimist
- Perspectives « I Think ^(Link) Therefore I Err
- Sen. Armed Srvcs. Cmte. Chairman Makes Big Gaffe « Virginia Virtucon
- Hey Ignorant World - There is PEACE in Iraq! « BUUUUURRRRNING HOT
- Pro General Petraeus, Anti Betray Us Editorial Cartoons « BUUUUURRRRNING HOT
- April, 2008 Archive « Right Minded Online
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Categories: Iraq
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Ya know, I would have said what a waste of a perfectly tasty grapefruit, but then I remembered, I take a statin…. go right ahead and smush it!!
ok, i better give Boxer some credit for actually making a little sense this time around… still dont like her or my other senator much.
no prob david i have several tress out back that are loaded, plenty of ammo…. lol
or tree’s
If Levin is an idiot for saying ‘Admiral’, what does that make McCain who still doesn’t know a Shia from a Sunni?
Glowbama is up
do you?
oh no! someone may faint.
Sunni’s are the sect associated with the late Sadaam and Saudi Arabia. Shiites dominate the Iraq government lead by Al Maliki who bends over and takes his orders from his supporters in Iran. Clear enough?
How these two men can sit there with straight faces while being questioned by these clowns is beyond me.
I don’t know who’s worse-Feingold, Levin (who can’t tell a General from an Admiral, the whole bunch of the dims, Hagel, Collins and now this idiot who is grandstanding.
Golly gee…he is much better behaved than the last time this exchange occurred.
SilverCat, I don’t think anyone is praising McCain here. Guess you’re a dimocrapcat?
Hopefully, I didn’t speak to soon.
Look at Nelson, looking at BO like a young man who’s in love for the first time.
“Sunni and Shia jocking for power.” No, you don’t say…
Sorry, BO I don’t think you give a rats behind about the military. Why doesn’t he let the General talk? Why is he making a campaign commercial and no one is stopping him?
terrig, I was wondering the same thing.
Did Biden just say second round and answering the questions they didn’t answer? Yeah, 30 pcs, wonder how long it will take before it shows up in an ad in PA?
I agree with the first part. It is no longer a war. That ended years ago. But you can not say there was no WMD. It is both a logical leap and an incorrect statement. You can say that the US forces found no WMD. (It could have been moved to Syria by Russia as one Iraq general asserted in a book.)
It is incorrect because we KNOW Hussein had WMD and used it against the Kurds. What we don’t know is what he did with it, or what he would have done with it in the next 6 years.
it’s not quite that abbreviated.
Anybody else pissed about the 3 senators left in this race. They spend 1 day in 10 actually doing their job and run for president on our dime. Anybody else would be fired. I think we should be firing them.
Yeah, Mister P, makes me wonder if they’ll be on the job at all.
Welcome back Armored Cav!
What does that make McCain you ask?
A jack-ass who thinks he’s a democrat!
lol rooster, i think thats the answer he was fishing for.
Is this the right thread? I’m digusted with this ‘Senate’ Testimony (INTEROGATION).
This could make a separate thread.
The “INTEROGATION” began this morning. I have been to town, (12 miles),
bought new tires (2 Hours, did the grocery shopping since I was in town,
Checked the mail at the PO Box, had coffee with friends, came home.
It’s now 17:40 EST.
How long is the “INTEROGATION” SUPPOSED TO GO ON?
Have these guys been under the SPOTLIGHT for 8 hrs yet?
If their answers ‘wrong’ are they hauled off to Lubiyanka for re-education?
Can’t The General and The Ambassador just say “That’s enough for today (under their breaths “Uninformed losers”),
I watched the ‘Senators’ during the General’s & Ambassador’s statements. They were all
ignoring the statements, thinking only of their (televised response and how they would be percieved);
this includes Senator McCain.
Levin is a joke. Will he ever take any responsibility for the State of Michigan?
Will he attach his wagon to the 1 State Recession of Michigan?
Will he ever ask those questions of the Michigan House or ‘2 penny Jenny’,
the imported Governor (Failed Canadian Actress & Socialist ).
Whose classic response is higher taxes and bigger government. (Sound Familiar?)
Barack H. Obama demonstrated once again his feckless line of questioning (if we can use the word question) to General Petraeus. He has no interest in the actual state of the War on Terror. The truth be known, I think Mr. Obama looked as stupid and ignorant as that other great orator on the
stagecommittee, Joe Biden.I’m with Mr. P and terrig, all three should resign their senate seats as they are running full time for the White House. None of them are worth a plugged nickle anyway.
Thank the Lord, for Cable TV.
Without it, we’d have never seen, how angry, short-sighted, grandstanding, contentious, and disrespectful, Democrats really are.
Back in the day, we’dve been treated, on the 5 o’clock “news,” to clips of their, oh-so-deep “statement/questions” and anchor/pundits would be giving John Q. Public their interpretation of the answers.
General Patreaus sure has a lot more patience with these morons, than I would.
I’d love to see the General get up walk up to the sniveling bast**rds and slap them along side of the head a couple of time.
I love how libs call this a “war for oil”, yet there were questions about why we don’t have more oil here in the US amidst soaring gas prices while Iraq has a surplus in reserve.
Re: #228
With all due respect, it seems to me that question has some legitimacy. We have spent hundreds of billions and, more importantly, several thousand young lives trying to help those ingrates. What would be wrong with taking some compensation?
I agree Bob 1234.
I also think the mexican government needs to cough up oil to compensate for the drain on our country from the vermin ignoring our laws coming from Mexico.
Welcome home to the land of the “Big PX” ArmoredCAV! Hope your leave allows you to indulge in all the things you gave up to protect this country. Some of us really do appreciate our troops and all they and their families sacrifice so we sleep soundly each night.
I wish the Senate Democrats of the Grand Inquisition would get their collective heads out of the butts and understood the nature of the threat and quit beating up the architect of one of the most successful counter-insurgencies in Military History. Too bad dueling is forbidden by the Uniform Code of Military Justice a fit warrior like General Petraeus would be able to handle each committee member in turn.
Truly, Carl Levin isn’t worth the boot leather to kick him the hell outta Congress. He’s a pustule on the country’s rear end and needs to be lanced!
Bob1234 and rooster, I agree that boosting our oil assets should be a matter of course at this stage, but that wasn’t my point.
If this war was strictly a simplistic grab for oil, as many liberal sheep like to claim, isn’t it odd that we face a shortage while Iraq has a surplus?
Are you picking up what I’m putting down?
AMEN!!! God bless our military and Veterans, and those who support them in FACT AND TRUTH!
Psalms 91 May they be shielded.
May the rest get their own sweet reward.
IN FULL.
There is EVERY indication the Liberals u nderstand PERFECTLY.
It is the CONSERVATIVES who misunderstand and think the Dims are only ACCIDENTLY always doing the WRONG THING.
Trouble is, an AGENDA was laid down in the 1950’s and published in the Congressional Record on Janurary 10, 1963, unanimously - and the DIMS are marching to it PERFECTLY.
WE are the ones who keep insisting that they must be ignorant - they are nothing of the kind. They know exactly what they are doing - they are accomplishing their stated goals.
We on the other hand, keep playing pattycake, pretending their accomplisments are accidents, and we have FAILED to impede them seriously in ANY ONE AREA AT ALL.
WE are the ones who need to wake up.
IF there is time left for it to matter.
After all, you don’t see one of OUR guys ACCIDENTLY leading in the DIM Primaries, do you?
They are sadly unfit to share CITIZENSHIP with.
Justice on earth would be them sharing an island with nobody but their own kind allowed, no exits allowed, and no charity from the outside allowed in.
Yes PBoilermaker it is the liberal rant to make oil the evil in the world. We haven’t gotten one barrel from Iraq because of the liberal disgust for the fuel that drives the world. Hell, we can’t get it from our own country, but the chicoms can drill off the coast of Florida.
Most of us know the real deal for Iraq. How long was it clearly and concisely debated before we went in?
But, if we can’t ask Iraq to help fund their protection because we are afraid of the liberals, or worse the europeans, what is the answer to help us fight this ideology to victory?
I don’t buy Rockefeller’s apology just speaking for myself. I think just like some of our resident trolls he truly feels that the military is the evil in this war and that the insurgents are “freedom fighters”.
What the hell? I made a post some time ago but I cannot find it. Did I forget to submit?
I feel this is very important so I repeat it
On April 8th, 2008 at 10:20 pm, allrsn said:
I wish I had been able to check in this AM.
In a fast scan of the article and comments I did not find the obvious question.
Check this out:
Day 1: Interm president of Iraq states he believes we can start to bring out troops by the end of the year. One paragraph in east one coast msm.
Day 3: Ried flys out to a meeting with Soros. One paragraph in a differant east coast msm.
Day 6: Murtha make infamous speech, we have lost the war and must retreat NOW!
Who here remembers the date of Murthas’ speech? How does this date relate to the above charts?
Michelle if you see this can you help?
MPCHOPS
Well, I’m not a republican, but it’s pretty clear to me what the administration’s strategy has been: defeat al quedia in Iraq and train the Iraqi army.
With Obama and Clinton wavering with the polls so much, it’s the democrats that I have trouble following. Seriously! Obama spends entire campaign saying how he did not vote for the Iraq War, and now he’s suggesting we’ll still need 60-80 thousand soldiers there? How does that work?
Couple of nights ago, some men were talking about the situation in the Middle East - one sid, “This is 1938.”
After a while, another man began to speak about the situation. He said, “A year and a half ago, I warned people that it was 1938. Now it is 1939.”
The second man was Benjamin Netanyahu.
He ought to know.
I agree with him.
We are a powerful way into creating a strategically-placed democracy in the Middle East.
And Democrats are clamoring for us to get out with victory in sight. HYSTERICAL for us to get out BEFORE we succeed.
And we claim they “don’t know what they are doing” and are “ignorant of the world situation”, the importance of what we are doing.
Oh, REALLY?
I don’t think so.
If you knew Rockefeller, and his family, you would know, his apology is like a frog saying, “I did NOT eat those FLIES!”
I think he leveled the insult in the firlst place so that Conservatives would rally to McCain in outrage against the insult, without bothering to consider whether the insult is necessarily “FAIR” or NOT!
I know he used to provide exactly such cover for more secretive friends who attended “meetings” his family helped arrange.
A twist on the good cop/bad cop subterfuge, or maybe more appropo, the way cops would seem to treat some of their snitches in public.
I’m rather sure in fact, that that is more likely what Rockefeller was indeed up to with his “insult”, in the first place.
And Conservatives are still so stupid and naive about the Dims and their little plots.
Manipulation is such an easy tool against Conservatives.
Boy, what a circus! Nothing more than political grandstanding and promotion for Presidental office. I heard old Kennedy came in, asked a question, and promptly left. I suspect he left his bottle back in the office. A waste of time and taxpayer money. What politicians won’t do, including tearing down the country, in order to promote their own agendas….
Ombre Rose, I am not rallying to McCain and find very few true conservatives are. I think many people took it as an overall insult of the pilots who go up in the air and drop bombs where they’re told. We just had one of our resident trolls saying something similiar last week on another thread. Again, I think most people took it as a general insult to the military who don’t “care” in the dim view about collateral damage, not as a rallying cry for McCain.
ROUND
TWOTHREEThanks for the heads up Aj. I had forgotten about today.
#245 On April 9th, 2008 at 8:02 am, terrig said:
“Ombre Rose, I am not rallying to McCain and find very few true conservatives are. I think many people took it as an overall insult of the pilots who go up in the air and drop bombs where they’re told. We just had one of our resident trolls saying something similiar last week on another thread. Again, I think most people took it as a general insult to the military who don’t “care” in the dim view about collateral damage, not as a rallying cry for McCain.”
Exactly.
Well put.
I heard about Rockefeller’s insult(s).
By his insulting remark(s), Rockefeller makes a terrific case for the reinstitution and legalization of dueling, dontchya think?
After today it will be like the General was never there , they wont have listened and the Dems will be back to biz as usual. Crapweasels.
That’s the impression I get as well. It’s unfortunate because they requested his presence…
Granite-to qoute Zell Miller as he talked to Chrissy Mathews “if dueling was still allowed, I would challenge you to a duel”, I agree 1000%.
You got it in one, gray!
I think it a bit ironic how suddenly “concerned” Dems are about taxpayer money by whining how the Iraqis aren’t paying for their own reconstruction or recompensing us with some of their oil. Yet, in the same breath, how much money are these self-serving politicians (of both political persuasions) wasting conducting pointless interrogations that mock both Gen. Petraeus and the military at large.
It makes me wonder wherever Roger Clemons is these days, he isn’t appreciating the irony himself.
Are Americans paying attention to the Dem’s endless escapade? Are they not taking notes or are they simply content letting the Dems continue to run the government into the ground? Is this the direction that Americans believe the country should be headed in where not only are Dems (who control both houses of Congress) taking our hard-earned money but spending it as they see fit?
I don’t know what’s more tragic…. people who think ending the Iraq War will do us any favors or people who think univeral healthcare/insurance for everybody (including illegals) will ensure a quality healthcare system.
Who is running the show- the American people or the polticians?